Stargate: Immortal
by Seraphin2011
Summary: Book III: The Ori gone, Aschen imprisoned, Wraith changed and pacified, yet the Alliance is threatened once more. The Vargas are coming and no one knows how they are going to survive an enemy that spans throughout the known universe and had done so for billions of years. By closing the anomalies, they have postponed the invasion by more than two years, but will that be enough?
1. Stranded - Part I

**Author's note:**

 **Hello everybody! It finally happened. I'm back! And I'm planning on staying at least until the third and final book in Liam's trilogy is completed. Also, I'm not making any promises, but I'll do my best to finish the spin-off story too. I'm still stuck, without the right idea on how to proceed further or how to end it without doing a bad job at it. However, I'm confident that sooner or later something will come to me.**

 **As far as this story goes, some have asked to give a recap of what happened in the previous book. I think it would take an entire chapter to do that, and probably there would be many important facts that I still missed explaining. Therefore, I'm not doing it. Sorry about that. What I can tell you though is that reading the last two chapters of the second book should give you a good foundation on what's important, especially since all the various wars, with the Ori, Wraith, Tikal and so on finished in the second book and won't have much of an impact in the third book. What remains is the final conflict against the Vargas, and for that you only need the last two chapters. If your willing to spend more time, read from chapter 30 of the second book onward. This should give you the complete understanding of what is going on in the story.**

 **Even though this third book delves into the thick of things from the start, characters will from time to time remember things from the past so that readers can more easily get into the story. Some characters will explain events that happened in the two and a half years interim, from the time where the last book left off to when the third book picks up the story again.**

 **Well, I think that's quite enough from me unless am planning on writing a note that's bigger than the story that follows.**

 **As always, thanks to my beta for his help, and I hope you'll enjoy reading this latest chapter :)**

* * *

There was light trickling from the entrance of the cave. It was faint, which made him think that it was still very early in the morning. Maybe four or four-thirty, not much more than that. He closed his eyes again, thinking that he should probably go back to sleep and get at least another hour of shuteye. The day was going to be a long one - as all recent days had been - and not just because of the 26 hours' planetary day cycle. They were long because of what he needed to do in those hours and how tired he was at the end of each of them.

He let out a slow and long breath as he realized that now that he was awake, sleep would not come back so easily. His brain would not let him; he was certain of it. There were too many things to do today and his brain was already doing them one after the other, even though he was still lying in bed.

Food. Above all, they needed more food.

Water was easy to find. At least there was that. The only thing he needed to do in order to get water was to go outside, grab some snow and boil it. However, food… well, food was a completely different story. In the best of circumstances, he should go and try to catch a rabbit or some other forest dweller, one unfortunate enough to be playing in the snow while he was out hunting. Or maybe he was going to get lucky and one of the traps he had laid had already caught something. He wasn't very optimistic about that though. In the last ten days, his _magnificent_ traps have caught exactly zero prey. Although unknown to him on how that could even be possible, one of those traps had ended up damaged. Maybe something somehow managed to break free and damaged it in the process. It was very disappointing. Even before going to check them, he already knew that the chances were slim and that he would probably have to go hunting. He wasn't very good at that either. Not that there were many preys lurking around to begin with. It was a harsh winter; that was certain. Not the best of conditions to go chasing the few rabbits still scurrying around the woods. In the end, both his traps and his hunting skills would probably result in no dinner tonight except from what they still had stashed.

 _Which isn't much._

There was a third option in the not so remote possibility that he couldn't catch anything and, as he thought about it more and more, he was slowly becoming more convinced that that should actually be his first, if not only, course of action.

There was always the alternative of traveling to town and getting some groceries.

 _Better get a move on…_

Daniel slowly slipped out of bed, a bed made mostly of some old blankets laid on the ground inside the small cave he'd been lucky enough to find. He slowly rose before moving towards his MK II combat armor laid on the ground a few meters away. He picked it, looking at it for a while. His armor. Well, this became his armor, but it had belonged to somebody else. It had belonged to Reynolds.

The man who gave his life in order to protect his.

He took a deep breath before beginning to put the armor on. He hated it. It wasn't his to put on and every time he did, it reminded him of how he got it.

"Daniel, are you awake already?" He heard Vala's voice coming from deeper inside the cave, from the other side of the bed.

Apparently, he hadn't been silent enough as to not to wake her up. He thought that this time he had been. "You should stay in bed and sleep a little longer. It's still too early and I have the feeling that this will be a very long and demanding day."

Vala stretched while still sitting on the bed. "How can I possibly remain in bed when you're making so much noise?" Vala replied before giving a questioning look directed at the cave's entrance. "Wait! You weren't kidding when you said it was still early. I can barely see any light coming from outside. What got into you today?"

"I told you," He replied meekly.

Vala got up on her feet. "Well, it is too late now to go back to sleep. I'm already fully awake. See!"

She wasn't fooling anyone. A quick glance at her was enough to understand that she was still half-asleep. Her hair alone looked as if it would take half an hour at best to untangle. However, he also knew that she was a very stubborn woman and discussing the matter of if she should or shouldn't remain in bed would inevitably prove to be nothing else than a complete exercise in futility, as it happened most times when they got into an argument. "Fine, then you get a fire going while I get some fresh water. We still have some coffee, I think."

He saw Vala nod in agreement, although not sure if she was awake enough for her to even register what he had said, or if she had simply nodded absentmindedly while leaving the thinking part for a later time. It didn't really matter though. He promptly turned and walked outside of the cave with a small pot. As he stepped onto the snow, he quickly began filling the pot with it until filling half. He gave a glance at the daylight coming from east for a moment, before turning and walking back inside the cave. Vala was already lighting the fire. The fireplace had been prepared in advance last night, so there was not much to do to get the fire going anyway, but it was still a sign that she was now fully awake and in control of her thoughts and actions.

Daniel put the pot on top of the fireplace before going for the coffee can. He opened it, giving a good look inside. There wasn't much coffee left.

"How much is left?" Vala asked.

"Not much," Daniel replied. It was the understatement of the year.

"We will have to go get some more then," Vala asked, while giving him a forced smile. "You know I can't go on without coffee, at the very least with one cup in the morning. I would like at least three, but without at least one I'm not even getting out of bed."

She was talking about coffee, but he knew that coffee wasn't what was really on her mind. They needed other things, more important things, in order to survive. Things that could be found only in town. He sighed. He was doing it a lot lately. "I think we can manage for a couple more days with what we have."

Vala gave him a stern look, "So, we are going to wait 'till the last moment, is that what you're saying?"

"Yep. That's exactly what I'm saying," he said, but there wasn't much conviction in the spoken words.

Vala was now giving him a glare, continuing as if she didn't hear him. "So, today we are going to town. Which one do you think we should visit this time? Velar or Bowna? Or should we be more adventurous and try Anais instead?"

"Anais is more than ten miles from here. It takes at least six hours to get there. More importantly, we don't know what we will find there," Daniel replied. Walking for ten miles, part of it in the snow, wasn't very high on his list of things he'd like to do today. On the other hand, Bowna was a small village with little chance of finding something there, even less than in Velar. Velar also had other reasons why avoiding it was a good idea.

"Well, it beats spending five or six hours searching Bowna for anything edible and coming up empty. Or going to Velar and…"

"Yeah, Velar is out of the question," Daniel replied quickly. "Maybe in a few weeks we can check it again, but it is too early to go there only after three days,"

"Then, it is settled. We are going to Anais."

Daniel looked at Vala for a long moment. She said those words with apparent conviction, but her eyes were telling a completely different story. She didn't want to go; she was afraid of what they would find there. However, she also knew that they needed to find supplies and find them fast or, if not, this cave where they'd found refuge would before long become their final resting place.

He didn't want to go either, but there was no other choice since he was fully aware of his lack of hunting skills. "Well, if you insist so much, we will go to Anais. But then you can't complain anymore that I'm not taking you places."

"Oh, you're so sweet, Daniel. You really know how to make a woman happy. Take her to a nice place where there's a very small chance of finding food or anything else that can be construed as useful, but with a high probability of encountering monsters, and she will be grateful to you forever."

"Don't mention it," Daniel replied, putting a big fake smile. "Coffee is ready."

Daniel poured the steaming coffee in two cups and together they walked out of the cave. It was chilly outside. He was feeling the piercing cold even while wearing the combat armors. The reason why that was the case was because their armors weren't powered anymore. As a result, they weren't providing any internal heating. The armor's power source had depleted a week ago. Hence, many of the advantages the armor usually provided didn't exist anymore. Terran-made weapons, armors and other military gadgets alike were among the best in the galaxy, but they were also very high maintenance and not suited for long-term usage without having a repair shop nearby. As it happens, there wasn't even one such shop in at least ten thousand light years from their current location.

"I'm worried about our ammo," Daniel said. "I have only one half full clip left for my grav-rifle."

"I have even less, but we have plenty of ammo for the other rifles we have here."

"I'm not sure any of these rifles can do us any good. Maybe if you get a clear headshot, but for anything else, the Quirilian rifles are all useless against those things," Daniel replied.

"Well, that just means that we will have to be very good with our aim, so that even those other weapons end up being useful to us. Because, Daniel, I don't think that we can find any more ammo for our weapons anywhere on this planet. Not until someone from Earth decides that we are important enough to come to save us, which, apparently, we aren't."

"Don't say that," Daniel replied, wincing. They had talked about this many times before.

"Why not, Daniel? It's been two months and in all that time I've seen many aliens landing on this planet. Do you know how many Terrans I've seen landing thus far? None. Not even one in two whole months."

"We don't know the situation in orbit. We don't know how many ships the aliens have, and we can only guess to which aliens those ships belong. At least that's the little we can see from down here," Daniel replied. "Maybe there's an entire Vargas armada in orbit preventing any rescue attempt."

"We haven't seen even one Vargas on the planet, Daniel," Vala retorted, clearly frustrated. "Most of the aliens we've seen are those ugly crab-like creatures."

"Of course they are. The Vargas are probably mass producing them," Daniel answered.

The crab-like aliens, or Crabs as the marines quickly began calling them, had been nicknamed that way simply because they had a tough exoskeleton, they were red, had pincers instead of fists and they crawled on six legs, sometimes even sideways. With a maturation period of only three months, these crab-like creatures were perfect for their intended use. The Vargas could start producing them in the last three months of their long voyage towards the Milky Way galaxy, and that way saving on space aboard their massive barges. After the initial bombardment of any military asset and energy infrastructure on the planet, the crab-like aliens were perfect for finishing the job. With their tough exoskeleton and strong pincers, they were the perfect killing machines. They ate what they killed in order to feed and grow in numbers. They also didn't use weapons. Therefore, they didn't need any ammo or manufacturing capabilities to fight. The only thing the Vargas needed to do was to let them loose on a planet and wait while they killed, ate and reproduced. After they finished with their nasty job of exterminating whatever species the Vargas wanted exterminated, the Crabs simply stopped eating, which resulted in dying of starvation. Then, the planet was completely clean for whatever purpose the Vargas wanted to use it. How the Vargas were managing to force the crab-like aliens to eat only a specific species was still a mystery to him. Usually, survival instincts would kick in forcing any living thing to find whatever digestible source of food present in order to survive.

"The point I'm trying to make is that there probably aren't any Vargas ships in orbit," Vala retorted. "Wouldn't you agree, Daniel?"

Frustration. Frustration with a hint of fear. That was what Daniel's tele-empathic abilities were telling him Vala was feeling right now. She needed to believe that rescue was coming. She needed to believe that there was a chance of them soon being rescued and to be able to leave this accursed planet. She needed to believe that there wasn't an armada of Vargas ships in orbit because she knew that if there was, rescue would never come. Daniel had to agree. The most probable reason why nobody was coming to their rescue was because there was a Vargas armada in orbit, and he wasn't about to lie to her.

Still, he needed to keep her hopes up somehow. "Even if the Vargas are above us, you know that they'll eventually leave. Therefore, what we need to do is keep our heads down until that happens and until rescue comes. They haven't forgotten about us Vala, don't worry. You know that Jack and the others won't rest 'till we are back."

"If you say so," Vala replied, taking a sip from her cup of steaming coffee.

He was glad to sense that she was calming down. The sun was almost visible now on the horizon, and since they'd decided to go to Anais in order to get what they needed, they needed to get a move on. There was a chance they wouldn't be able to return tonight either. He was hoping for that not to be the case, but walking for ten miles in a combat armor without power, part of the way knee-deep in snow, and then being able to do the same to get back, all in one day, was a very tall order. "You know, there is a chance of us having to stay the night in Anais."

Vala visibly stiffened. "You don't have to remind me, Daniel. It was my idea to go there and I've thought of that possibility already. Still, if Anais has something more than one or two cans of beans left there, we could finally get enough stuff to last us for a week or maybe even two. I think it's worth the risk."

Daniel couldn't help but agree. If they could find enough to last them for that long, it would be worth it. Since he saw that Vala already got up on her feet and that she was already prepping everything she'd need on the trip, he slowly got up too. He began doing the same as Vala, packing a backpack with a few cans of beans and some kind of fish similar to sardines, plus a flask he still needed to fill with snow once he was outside. He then took a Quirilian rifle and enough spare ammo for it. He would use his grav-rifle if needed, but since he was on his last clip, there was a good chance he would remain without bullets for it very quickly. He put the ammo in the backpack too. The backpack was big, big enough to fill with a lot of what he hoped they were going to find in Anais, and if needed they could use some additional bags to carry everything back. However, what he was hoping for was to find some vehicle there, one to use for the trip back. If they were lucky enough to find one they could probably make it in one day, which would save them from having to spend the night in Anais.

There were things that always came out at night in urban areas.

"I'm ready. You?" Daniel asked as he finished packing.

"Yes! We can get on the road. How much time do you think it will take us to get there?" Vala asked.

"Well, I'd say six hours or maybe seven. The worst part is the first three miles in knee-deep snow. After that we should start moving faster, but we should also start paying more attention to our surroundings."

"Yeah, those crabs don't like the snow this high in the mountains so much." It was the reason why they went so far. "But once we get down, we better stay on our toes."

As far as Daniel knew, the Crabs didn't have ears or a sense of smell, and even their vision wasn't very good. If you paid enough attention to your surroundings, you could easily spot them before they spotted you, especially since their red-colored body was visible from a mile away. Overall, they weren't the worst enemy if your job was to evade a crab when spotted. The problem was that they were everywhere. Where there was one there were many time more of them and very few weapons were able to harm them quickly enough to save yourself. The damn monsters were capable of moving at more than twenty-five miles per hour, even over longer distances. They could keep up at such a speed for hours if necessary, something humans could never do. It meant that, no matter how fast you were, eventually they would catch up with you.

Daniel and Vala went out of their hiding place. A small cave they found two weeks ago located almost a mile above sea level. From this high up, and especially now that the sun has risen enough to show them the entire valley in front of them, Daniel could see for miles in all directions. Even with his binocular, he could not see anything moving down there, which was a comforting sight. It would have been a very bad thing if they could see a horde of Crabs even before their journey began.

Without hesitation, both of them took their first steps down the mountain. There was a lot of road ahead that needed to be crossed and he was hoping they could reach Anais somewhere around noon at the latest.

* * *

Three years after the formation of the Terran Federation, and two years and eight months after the battle in the Eden system against the Vargas, High Councilor Jack O'Neill floated aimlessly inside one of the unfinished observation decks aboard the first Terran starbase currently in geosynchronous orbit above Terrania, their headquarter in the Atlantic Ocean. The observation deck, the same as many other decks on the massive starbase, was still unfinished, even after more than two years had passed since the beginning of the station's construction. The station, a massive mushroom born in space, was a marvel built with the most advanced technologies at their disposal. Being massive and highly advanced also meant that it wasn't the easiest of constructs to build. Definitely not something that could be done in a short time. However, that wasn't the main reason why the station wasn't fully operational yet. The real reason was that they needed other things, more important things, to be built first.

After the battle against the Vargas, a battle in which too many ships each with hundreds of Terrans onboard had been destroyed, it wasn't difficult to predict where the Terran focus would end up and continue to be for the conceivable future. Nobody knew when and exactly where the Vargas would show up next time, but all parties involved were in full accord that they inevitably would and that when they did, it wouldn't be pretty. The Terrans, the Asgard, the Edenians, the Jaffa and all other space faring races had dedicated most of their resources to prepare for the inevitable confrontation they all knew was coming. However, there was one question they needed an answer to first, before anything else was done.

How do you defend yourself against an enemy such as the Vargas? An enemy that is everywhere in the universe and with, for all intent and purpose, unlimited resources. The Vargas came with a thousand of their very powerful ships only three weeks after they'd learned about a threat in the Andromeda galaxy. Now, everybody was happy that Liam was able to devise a plan to close the anomaly, and that way making it very difficult for the Vargas to reach them. By having postponed their arrival for years to come, Liam had given them at least a fighting chance. However, what were the Vargas going to bring once those years had finally passed?

No matter what the Vargas brought, they all knew they wouldn't be able to protect their planets, not when an enemy such as the Vargas could jump out of hyperspace in orbit of your planet with thousands of ships and just blast everything in their path. With such a large number of ships they could lay waste to planet after planet with impunity before defenders could even arrive. Inside a year, the Vargas could lay waste to most of the inhabited planets in the entire Milky Way galaxy.

How could anyone protect against something like that?

Well, Liam gave the answer to Jack that same day when he disappeared. Liam simply told him to go to the Nox because they had a way to help. He also told him that he was going to get a big headache because of it. At the time he didn't pay much attention to such unimportant remarks, especially since it was while they were saying their goodbyes.

He should have known better.

What the Nox had to offer was of course something that would help them greatly in defending their homes against the Vargas threat. However, implementing it on a galactic scale was going to be, both, a technological and diplomatic nightmare. The Nox had been isolationists for a very long time. So, it shouldn't come as a surprise that they had developed technologies that promoted such a lifestyle. What the Nox had come up with during their isolation was a device that disrupted subspace. The first time Jack heard that, he simply asked what to him was the most logical question anyone could ask at that moment.

He asked, 'So what?'

He understood once Sam explained the ramifications.

If such a device were to be activated inside a system, said system would become impossible to reach with any known FTL method of travel. There simply was no hyperspace or warp engine capable of nearing the planet. A ship nearing a region of space where subspace was disrupted would drop back into normal space, usually in such a harsh way that it was questionable if anyone aboard would survive the experience. Even a jump drive the Colonials used would form an exit point somewhere outside of the disrupted region of space in the best of cases.

After Sam's detailed explanation, he quickly understood that they could create such a region around important systems with a radius of light-hours or maybe even light-days, depending on energy requirements. Suddenly, an enemy that would most probably choose to drop in orbit above your planet would be forced to exit hyperspace so far out that it would take them days to crawl at sublight speed towards their desired target. With such technology at their disposal, the Vargas would most definitely be prevented from using any kind of blitzkrieg tactic to knock out planet after planet in the entire Milky Way galaxy.

With such a technology at their disposal, there were also other positive side effects that needed to be considered and that could help the allies in defending their homes against the Vargas. For example, the Vargas, as well as any other enemy, would most certainly evade a large minefield by simply jumping into hyperspace and coming out on the other side. But now, without the ability to jump in hyperspace, minefields suddenly became something capable of protecting planets. The Vargas would also come to the Milky Way galaxy with their ships having subspace sensors and communication systems, as it was the norm to have for all advanced races. Both of those did not work inside a system where subspace was disrupted. Of course, the allies had the same limitations as the aggressor. However, they also had years in advance to prepare in order to come up with different strategies on how to fight effectively under such restrictions and to come up with new technologies better suited for battles where radio communications and sensors limited to the speed of light were the only ones possible. It would also be a fight inside a region of space where you couldn't simply escape in hyperspace whenever and wherever you wanted.

This all had sounded very interesting to Jack. A way of preventing the enemy from simply showing up at your doorstep was something he wanted for the Solar system for a long time, even while he still didn't know of its existence. Now that he knew it was possible, he was as excited as a child entering a massive toy store. However, there were problems with the technology they were planning on using as well.

A stargate works by sending a stream through subspace, but since subspace is disrupted, stargates simply cannot work. To the Terrans, losing the ability to use the stargate would be felt, and nobody was really happy about it, but they would survive such a loss. They had many ships, their colonies were self-sufficient and didn't rely on the stargate for the survival of its people, and most of all, if they really wanted, they could build supergates just outside of the disruption field for their ship to travel to other, similar gates wherever they put them. All that meant that the Terrans had no real reason not to implement such technology in order to protect their homeworld, colonies and outposts. Even more so since by blocking the gates from working, they were also preventing the device from being used as a devastating bomb capable of ending life on a planetary scale.

There was a problem though. The problem was that they were to protect the entire galaxy against the incursion of the Vargas because everybody knew the Vargas would not target only their planets. Once the Vargas came, they would not leave until all human held planets were devoid of life or enslaved through a neural implant, whichever came first.

So, the problem now was, how to sell the idea of employing such a device to all of the other races in the galaxy?

There was also the question of where exactly should they place such a device. They shouldn't place it anywhere where the Vargas, or even the inhabitants of a planet could find it and deactivate it. The answer to that conundrum came one day to Sam. The safest place where to put such a device was, inside a Sun. It wasn't strange that Jack didn't think of it, simply because he didn't know that that was even a possibility. Sam explained that with the current technology at their disposal, mostly in the form of the prior's energy absorbing shields, they could actually construct an automated vessel capable of flying inside the sun and then receive enough energy through the shield to not only protect itself from the massive heat and pressure, but power itself indefinitely. This method would also provide the considerable amount of power needed to create such a large subspace disruptive field, strong enough to encompass the inner portion of a star system. Another point was that in order to be sure that the Vargas wouldn't be able to deactivate it, they also decided that once activated said device would be impossible to turn off. There would be no access codes that could turn it off. They knew the Vargas could capture one of their ships or possibly a person who knew the codes. Hence, the decision was made that the activation of the devices must be permanent, or until it malfunctioned and deactivated on its own.

They only needed to sell it to the countless worlds in the Milky Way galaxy, and everything would be great.

Of course, the job of producing and then activating said devices in tens of thousands of systems was a job that could not be done in mere days or even weeks. It took them more than two years to build the required number of units and only with the help of the other races in the Second Great Alliance. It had been decided that the production, as most of the production was done these days, was to be done inside the Clava Thessara Infinitas. After the final battle in the Eden system, Liam had instructed Aenea to take their people in the pocket universe and there begin the process of reviving the Alterran race by changing all willing Edenians into a proud member of the ancient race. Practically, the same thing the Terrans were doing with the Genesis Project. It was always a goal of Liam's to bring back his race into the mortal plane of existence, and it was sad to see that, in the end, he wouldn't be present when the whole process began.

While the Edenians took the main planet where Liam and Jack had gone the first time they accessed the pocket universe, other planets were given to the other races in the Second Great Alliance. Argos, the custodian, had built a large infrastructure on all of the planets in the pocket universe and some were specifically designed for different species. This way, the pocket universe had a planet prepared for the Asgard and their way of life, the same as another planet was prepared to accommodate the Nox. Since at the time Argos didn't know there would be humans from Earth joining them, one of the planets that was prepared for the Alterrans was given to them.

No Terran objected to that.

Jack didn't know how to classify the newly acquired real estate they came into possession out of nowhere. He could not think of it as another colony in the constantly expanding Terran Federation. Earth, Tollana, Terra Nova, Asura and Haven were systems with planets meant for colonization. There were other planets in their possession that because of some unwanted characteristics were not deemed suitable for colonization. Those were used for mining or as outposts. A planet inside a pocket universe that could be accessed only through a massive space station stationed in-between the Milky Way and Pegasus galaxy, no matter what characteristics it had, it simply didn't fall into the same category as those other planets. The logistics for colonization alone were horrible, the same as for mining. How would people even go live there? And why would they even? Who would want to live inside a pocket universe and be unable to get out until the space station was to transit inside it. Even the Edenians had gone there to stay only until the war with the Vargas was over, at which point they would probably return to their homeworld in the Andromeda galaxy or colonize some other planet elsewhere.

The Council had quickly come to the conclusion that the planet in question would never become a colony and instead it was simply designated as property of the Terran Space Navy.

On that planet, just as on all other habitable planets in the pocket universe the ascended Alterrans had created more than five million years ago, accommodations for even millions of people were not a problem, and the infrastructure Argos had built on the planet's surface as well as in space was so far ahead of even what they had found on Asura that many humans had begun salivating profusely at the pictures Jack had shown them. Not only did the infrastructure dwarf that of Asura, but Argos also had five million years to come up with improvements and pet projects to pass the time. As Argos had explained to them, even as a Virtual Intelligence given the task of finding a way to fight the Ori, even he got bored from time to time. This boredom had resulted in incredible discoveries being done, as well as strange constructs - some useful, while other not so much - found everywhere in the binary system. The picture of rows upon rows of space shipyards in orbit of the gifted planet was enough to make Jack's doppelganger drop back in his chair, speechless for the rest of the day. Jack knew that there was no way to put a price to this new real estate the Terran Space Navy suddenly came into possession. There simply wasn't.

Together, the Edenians, Nox, Asgard and the Terrans had used the infrastructure given to them by Argos to build the needed devices meant to save the Milky Way galaxy from the Vargas, and they did it in record time. The massive space station capable of transiting inside the pocket universe was also big enough so that taking the devices out in the universe wasn't all that difficult. Once back in the real universe, the larger ships took them to the Milky Way galaxy and to the appropriate star systems where they were flown inside the sun. Once activated, these devices created a subspace disruptive field light-hours in radius. Even with the fastest sublight engines at their disposal, crossing light-hours meant days of travel, which meant no sudden attacks could ever occur.

While floating in the observation deck, Jack sensed that somebody had joined him. "Sam. What brings you here?"

"Oh, nothing. Just wanted to see what you were up to for the past three hours," Sam replied.

"Three hours? I've been here for that long?" Jack didn't know when he'd lost the track of time. To him, it felt as maybe an hour had passed.

"Yep. You even skipped our lunch."

He'd skipped lunch. Now he knew that something was wrong with him. "Maybe I should go and see a doctor."

Sam chuckled. "Not sure if a doctor can help you there. You've been spacing out a lot lately."

"I had a lot on my mind lately," Jack responded.

"Still worrying about Daniel?" Sam asked in a more somber tone.

"Among other things, yes."

"What other things?"

"Oh, this entire war with the Vargas and what we are going to do to survive it," Jack replied.

The Vargas had been here for less than six months and the Milky Way galaxy was already in complete chaos. And the worst part was that they could be happy how things were going. It had taken the Vargas more than two years to come here, and they had used some massive fifty kilometers long space barge to do it. No normal person could call that thing a ship. That barge was so large that they could easily hold thousands upon thousands of ships and who knew how many aliens.

Apparently, the primary role of those barges was to transport whatever the Vargas wanted transported over massive distances, anywhere in the universe without the need to use the anomalies. With the anomalies in the Senari galaxy closed, the Vargas needed to cross more than three hundred million light years to come here and not many spaceships could cross such a distance without permanently burning out their engines. Instead, the Vargas built barges that were apparently capable of crossing the three hundred million light years in a little over two years. Jack had to admit it. It was an incredible accomplishment to build something so big and still capable of crossing such a vast distance in a relatively short time and even more impressively, without breaking down during the extensive voyage.

Another accomplishment he reluctantly had to give them credit for was what they were able to do to Earth, even after all the defenses they had put into place to protect it.

It happened almost six months ago, a little after the time when they had spotted their barge for the first time. It appeared that with the Vargas there's no subtlety in their strategies. They knew their biggest obstacle in the Milky Way galaxy were the Terrans. Hence, their strategy was to hit Earth hard and clean the rest of the galaxy afterwards.

That day, and without forewarning, a fleet of almost two thousand Vargas ships exited hyperspace at the outskirts of the Solar system. The hostile forces immediately began their constant push toward the third planet in the system. Thinking about that day, he could not but realize how the system they had installed and that disrupted subspace had saved them in so many different ways. The primary goal of the system was of course to prevent anyone from simply dropping out of hyperspace near your homeworld. However, there were other advantages the system had given the Terrans and they were not about to waste any of them. The first was that, with absolute certainty, they knew the Vargas would be at a disadvantages when it came to communications and sensors. With time, the Vargas would adapt, but this was the time when the Vargas still fully relied both, on subspace sensors and communications and suddenly finding yourself in a completely different environment than the one you were accustomed to and that redefined what you could and couldn't do in such a drastic way must have been incredibly debilitating.

It took the Vargas almost two full days to reach Earth and once they did, they were rewarded with a cloaked minefield the Vargas were unable to detect without their precious subspace sensors. The first layer of the minefield was comprised of powerful antimatter mines. Why not use the substance extensively since they had almost unlimited amounts of the very useful stuff? The antimatter mines had chewed at the Vargas shields of almost every ship while they had passed through, only to enter another kind of cloaked minefield. Zelenka's minefield was made of charged zat-mines that discharged when a ship passed near them. Since there were tens of thousands of them in the Vargas path, and since zat-mines weren't destroyed as regular mines were, the Vargas were in for the greatest surprise of their lives. Jack could still recall clearly, as he watched arcs jumping from mine to ship, from ship to ship, from ship to mine, ten thousand of them. It was as if looking straight at a raging storm. A storm that was forming and seemingly following the Vargas ships as they went. The important part was that the minefield was incredibly effective in overloading the Vargas shields or rather what remained of them after the antimatter minefield did its job. However, this wasn't all. The Vargas were made from an energy dispersive material, and having an energy dispersive material didn't actually mean the energy was going to vanish. The only advantage of the material was its ability to propagate the energy quickly throughout the hull of the ship, hence diluting its effects that would otherwise destroy chunks of the ship wherever the impact occurred.

But, for how long would such a material remain effective?

The zat-discharge was jumping from ten thousand mines, constantly adding more and more as the mines continued to produce more and more energy after each discharge. Quickly, the hull of the Vargas ships was so saturated with the strange energy form that some of it began bleeding through the shield emitters, the engines, the weapon emplacements, sensor dishes or any other active device usually found on the hull of a ship.

Most of the Vargas ships were at that point without shields and with system after system receiving more and more damage as they passed through the strange minefield. However, this wasn't all the Terrans had in store for the invaders. The next step was the use of a powerful radio jamming system they had placed around Earth that - in addition to already being unable to use subspace communications - further crippled their ability to communicate amongst themselves. Without shields, damaged and uncoordinated, the Vargas fleet was about to face the next line of defense the Terrans had prepared for them. Almost two hundred of the next generation antiproton satellites de-cloaked and fired in unison. Since the Terrans knew that not many things could go through Zelenka's massive minefield with their shields remaining intact, they decided to build the standard satellite, the one without the ability to fire a beam at relativistic speed. They knew it wasn't necessary because in this instance the antiproton beams didn't need to pierce through their shields to be effective. It was why the allies had focused on improving the weapons range and rate of fire of the next generation of defense satellites. With a range like no other, the weapons were by far the first to fire. They were also capable of firing again in just under one minute, again before any of the Vargas ship could retaliate.

Two hundred satellites fired and scores of enemy ships were no more. The did it again, and more Vargas ships disappeared. As the satellites fired again, there were eight hundred capital ships aiding them in their task of obliterating the hostile Vargas armada.

At that point, the Vargas were in deep shit while the Terrans had lost exactly zero asset in the entire Solar system. Moreover, even the Vargas must have understood by then that there were other surprises awaiting them further down the road. Like the countless missile platforms that were waiting to fire a myriad of missiles of various types and sizes, the moment they got in optimal weapons range, and since they knew that none of them were getting out of the there alive, there was only one way to proceed.

Which was to perform a suicide run.

As he remembered that exact moment when the Vargas decided to go all in, Jack was certain that they would still fail. He was certain that, with Earth's planetary shield and with the countless defenses at their disposal, the Vargas would not be able to get even one of their ships near their planet.

As predicted, they didn't. However, their singularity missiles did.

It was unclear if the Vargas came prepared for such an eventuality – it was strange that they could have predicted something like that beforehand – yet, strangely, the Vargas armada had an abysmal amount of those accursed missiles at their disposal. From the ten thousand singularity missiles fired, not one had been directed toward a ship or a satellite. They all went straight for the planet.

Their reaction was fast. The same instant the missiles were fired, everything at their disposal was redirected toward destroying those missiles before they could reach the planet. So many drones, missiles and energy weapons of various sizes and colors were fired at the shielded missiles that, in the end, only one missile - as it detonated, while creating a singularity - was able to puncture the planetary shield, and for three more such missiles to pass through it inside Earth's atmosphere. One missile hit the Himalayas, one hit India in full, and one dropped into the Indian Ocean. Once the missiles had activated, singularity formed that began sucking anything around them, for miles in all directions. At this point, most people watching would think that for such a complex weapon, the end destructive result wasn't that much of a big deal. Being able to suck things in a ten miles' radius wasn't something that would categorize it as a doomsday weapon, and whoever thought that, Jack included, would be right. However, the strength of the Vargas singularity weapon wasn't in its ability to suck matter in a ten miles' radius. Its strength was in what happened when the singularity suddenly disappeared. With so much matter having been compressed into a single point, so small that even the bonds between molecules and atoms were beginning to break down, the sudden disappearance of the only force responsible for keeping everything together meant that all that compressed maelstrom of matter had to be expelled.

Of course, said matter would be expelled in a very explosive way.

The result was that Mount Everest wasn't the tallest mountain anymore, that in the middle of India an explosion with massive amounts of kinetic energy had devastated everything in a two hundred miles' radius and that the third missile that had dropped into the Ocean had created a tsunami that caused untold damage to the Indian coast as well as of neighboring countries like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar and even Malaysia and Thailand. The final death toll was more than two hundred million people. Even after six months of incessant work, the Second Great Alliance was still trying to purify the air of Earth from the resulting dust cloud, possibly by returning the dust to from where it came from.

From such an attack, a less advanced race would have risked extinction from the dust cloud alone.

If it weren't for this disaster of incalculable proportions, this would by far have been the biggest victory against the Vargas, with only 17 satellites and 12 ships lost against the two thousand ships of the enemy destroyed. That was also the most probable reason why the Vargas campaign in the Milky Way galaxy had continued at a much, much slower pace than what would have been the case if they'd had two thousand of their strongest warships still at their disposal. It meant that the rest of the galaxy for the most part had to deal only against the Vargas minions and their ships, and those were not even close to what threat the Vargas' ships represented.

Yet, Jack could not help but feel that maybe if they had just placed a few more defenses, this tragedy might have been averted.

The positive side was that, thus far, there had been sightings of only one barge in the entire Milky Way galaxy, with no confirmed new arrivals. Still, Jack was dreading when the next one was going to join the first one. He knew the Vargas were going to send more and that, no matter how many ships they were to lose, more and more would come until the entire Milky Way was cleansed of humans. However, for now they needed to deal with what this first barge had brought, which was other races under the Vargas control. Thus far, they'd seen three other races and countless ships of which only a small portion of them were Vargas, which wasn't strange at all since most of the Vargas ships were now in rubble.

"Anything in specific?" Jack heard Sam's voice say, which forced him again to stop spacing out.

"I was thinking about what the Vargas are doing with their barge. I mean, I'm glad that what came to this galaxy wasn't an endless stream of the strongest Vargas ships. I'm relieved even more that we were able to destroy most of those ships at the very beginning because I have no clue how we would have survived if they brought more than what they did. Still, even what they've brought and that is still intact is giving us a big headache. Especially those damn space machines!"

"You mean the reapers?" Sam asked.

"Oh, so we have decided to call them that?" Jack asked. Seeing that Sam was nodding, he continued. "Yes, I'm thinking about those reapers."

One of the first things that happened when the first barge arrived was to send some strange ships in all directions. Apparently, those ships could be designated as automated motherships with an AI dedicated to do only three things. One, to find resources, two, to build other AI-controlled ships with those resources and three, to use those ships to attack whatever floats without discrimination or otherwise to seek inhabited planets and attack whatever is giving out any kind of energy emissions from the surface. Those reaper ships were cheap crap. They were easy to build and easy to destroy, but they were growing exponentially. The automated motherships would first build a considerable number of smaller ones, followed by the building of a replica of itself. Once done, the replica and the smaller ships would leave for greener pastures. The process was constantly building more and more of the same and once a certain number was reached, an assault en masse would commence.

"We are analyzing a few of the smaller ships we captured. There is a chance we could disrupt their communication with the mothership, especially inside a system where subspace is already disrupted by the Nox device and where only radio communication is available," Sam answered.

Even Jack knew why that was. Inside those systems, the only way for a mothership to communicate with the smaller ships was through radio signals, and those were much easier to jam than subspace communications. Once jammed, the little ships reverted to some predefined behavioral pattern and by doing so losing most of their ability to coordinate their attacks with other ships of their kind. Still…

"It will help, but, it's not a definitive solution, is it?" Jack countered.

"No, far from it. If we place jamming devices in populated systems, we are reducing the reapers effectiveness, but it is still only a purely defensive strategy to give us better odds in a fight, and only until they find a way to beat the jamming system. We still don't have any idea on how to go on the offensive. At least not until we can't pinpoint where those motherships that are constantly building more of them are," Sam explained.

A galaxy is a very big place, and a reaper mothership could choose almost any of the many billions of star systems to collect the needed resources from some uninhabited planet, moon or asteroid. Finding them, when you didn't even know how many there were, was practically impossible. "So, we are getting back to the initial idea that we need to somehow capture one of the big ones and study it."

Only by examining one of the reaper's motherships could they gather some insight into how to find them. Maybe some hidden subspace communication channel they were using to communicate with other motherships or with the Vargas barge, or maybe by studying their hyperdrives they could more easily detect the noise they were making and that way be able to track their movements. After all, they were much less advanced than the Vargas ships were.

"We've tried, but every time we disabled one of them, the damn thing just self-destructed," Sam replied. It was clear she was angry as well.

There was also the problem that even if they knew where those motherships were, they still didn't know what to send. To destroy a mothership, even while protected with a full fleet of the smaller reapers, a single heavy cruiser backed up by a couple of the new third generation Defiants was more than enough to get the job done, quickly and without risks. However, you never knew what you'd find when you got there. Sometimes, a mothership could have one of the still remaining Vargas warships stationed there and suddenly a heavy cruiser was not ideally suited for what was needed in such an engagement. They were also smart. If the mothership's AI realized that the enemy was too strong, the ship simply ran away without engaging. After all, they were not fighting living beings with emotions and egos. The AI didn't care or feel. The AI would simply come up with the best decision possible at any given moment and execute the plan. "What about the other idea?"

"What other idea?" Sam asked, unsure.

"The virus idea."

"You mean Eve?"

"Yes, I mean Eve," Jack replied, while rolling his eyes. Damned be the day they'd started naming viruses.

"Still trying to find a way to go through the mothership's firewalls. The problem is that most of the communication is from the mothership to the smaller reaper ships. What the mothership is receiving from the smaller ships is mostly action logs, which are small and incredibly simple. When we try to transfer a virus as complex as Eve through the same channel, the mothership's AI immediately understands it's not just logs it's receiving, but rather something much nastier. This is enough for the mothership to block the transfer before all of Eve is transferred.

"So, another dead end?" Jack asked, already sure of the answer.

"Probably. There are a few more things we can try, but I'm not very confident that we'll be able to go through the mothership's protections. And even if we do, there's still the question if Eve can beat the ship's AI."

"Thought so," Jack responded. "Any more bad news?"

"Nope," Sam replied.

Jack saw it. He could tell there was something she wasn't telling him. He could see it clearly plastered all over her face. "What are you not telling me?"

Sam waited for a moment, without saying anything. She then took a deep breath. "I didn't want to get your hopes up because, frankly, it could turn out to be nothing, but it appears there's some movement-"

Jack was already swimming towards her. There was no gravity, so it wasn't that easy to move while floating weightless. "Quiril! There's movement in Quiril's orbit?"

"Yes. The Vargas ships have already started moving away from the system. All but one."

"Which one?" Jack asked.

"One of the Hunter's ships."

Jack thought about the ship Sam mentioned, while still swimming. He was slowly picking up speed. "J.J. can take care of that one on his own, right?"

"If that's the only ship that remains, yes, but I just told you not to get your hopes up so early. You know that it will take the Vargas more time to exit the disruption field at sublight, and we can act only after they have entered hyperspace and not a moment sooner."

"Why didn't you start with the good news first and instead spend ten minutes talking about the reapers?" Jack asked. The planet where Daniel was trapped had too many Vargas ships in orbit – it was probably all of the Vargas ships left in the galaxy - to attempt a rescue mission that would risk countless lives in order to save only two, no matter who those two people were. The intel that the situation was changing was something he should have been informed immediately.

"As I said, I wasn't sure if telling you before something more concrete happens is a good idea. The Vargas could still decide to remain in the system, just outside of the disruption field, for who knows how long."

"No need to be so considerate, Sam. I'd rather know that something is happening, even if it turns out to be nothing, than to think that nothing is happening, while something is happening. Like what I was thinking five minutes ago. Got it?" Jack replied.

"I think I do," Sam replied, clearly not sure.

"Good. Then let's go back to the CIC so I can see with my own two eyes what's going on," Jack said, just as he managed to swim where Sam was and finally able to touch solid ground.

Sam nodded and they both took off towards the CIC, with Jack having a big smile on his face.

 _\- to be continued -_

* * *

 ** _Thank you for reading. Please leave a review if you feel like it._**


	2. Stranded - Part II

**Author's note:** Here comes the second part of the introductory chapter of the third and final book. Here I only need to mention one thing about the weapon the Vargas used and that a reader noticed something wrong with it. Maybe it is a little misleading to call the weapon a singularity missile since I never thought of it as capable of creating a black hole. The device is capable of creating a strong gravitational sinkhole, but never to levels that would create a true singularity or black hole. This would have devastated the entire planet. The problem was that I didn't know of any better name on how to call it, yet I forgot to better explain what it does. For now, this explanation will have to do, but next time the Vargas use it, I'm planning on doing a better job at explaining.

 **Thanks to my beta, and I hope this chapter too will be to your liking.**

* * *

Captain Johnathan O'Neill, better known as Jack Junior or by most people simply called J.J. in order to distinguish him from the other two, older, Jack O'Neills present in this universe, watched through the frontal view of his ship the live feed of Quiril, the planet that all thought of as a gigantic trouble magnet. Not just the Ori, but also the Vargas had decided to visit this human world with ill intentions and devastating consequences for its population. The Quirilians had somehow survived the Ori, mostly through sheer luck and with a little help from the Terrans. The devastation had been great, but they'd somehow been able to rebuild their world after the Ori had been driven away just to be attacked again and this time by a many times worse enemy. An enemy that didn't want to enslave them or convert them to some bogus religion, but instead, wanted nothing else than to exterminate them.

J.J. didn't know how many Quirilians were still alive on the planet's surface, or in what exact conditions, but he was certain it must be only a fraction of what their population once had been, before the Vargas came. The Vargas had come with hundreds of their ships and no one had any doubt on the reason why they were here. Upon reaching orbit, they had immediately begun their relentless bombardment. They'd quickly leveled out any and all military infrastructure like military bases, depots, airfields, ships like carriers and destroyers, and then they'd destroyed all of the power plants on the planet. By doing so, they had effectively tossed Quiril back into the Middle Ages. It was almost as if they knew exactly what to hit on the planet for maximum impact. What had remained were people starving in the streets with no power and no weapons capable of defending them from an enemy such as the Vargas. Then, the Vargas began sending transport ships on the planet's surface filled with those crab-like aliens. Their task was to seek their prey, eat them and multiply until nothing remained. And their prey were the humans and the animals needed by humans to survive.

With more than a hundred ships in orbit, there hadn't been much the Terrans or anyone else could have done to save those people, especially since when they'd found out what had transpired, it was already far too late. The devastation was almost complete, and if it wasn't for the little fact that one of their council members was on the planet when it all went down, he wouldn't even be here in the system, now under cloak, watching and waiting for the right moment to sneak in and find a way to get their people back. It was really bad timing for Daniel to be on the planet in the process of persuading the Quirilians that using the gifted device to disrupt subspace in their system was a good thing. The Quirilians were among the last worlds in the Milky Way galaxy to agree to activate the device.

But now it appeared though that providence was once again on their side as the Vargas had, after two months, decided that it was time to leave for greener pastures. It was a very good thing too because J.J. was almost a hundred percent certain that if they didn't go save their people soon - as in, today kind of soon - a certain person that was at the moment pacing up and down the small bridge would begin murdering people. It was enough to see her golden eyes burning to know in what mood she was in.

"Adria, can you _please_ stop pacing on my bridge?" J.J. asked, fed up. There was a good chance of him being the first one to die.

Adria stopped moving before she gave him a look that made his blood freeze. She was a terrifying woman. "When?"

"Soon," J.J. replied, before waving at the display showing the system. "See, when those red dots there are gone, we are going in."

"How long?"

"Not long." He actually didn't know how much it was going to take for the Vargas to leave. Yes, they were very close to the threshold and once reached, they could easily open a hyperspace window and disappear. However, there was a chance of the Vargas deciding to linger for a while longer at the outskirts of the system.

"And what about the ship they have left behind?"

"We will have to take care of the Hunter's ship ourselves," J.J. responded. It was true the Hunter's ship was almost three times what the Defiant was in length alone, but he was certain they could take it out in short order. The third generation of the Defiant was something the Edenians had worked in conjunction with the Terrans, taking full advantage of the knowledge from both the experience they have accumulated in the past five years and from whatever they were able to get from the Clava Thessara Infinitas and Argos in such a short time. The new Defiant was 152.4 meters in length, almost double its predecessor, and it was meant to replace all other ships of a similar class. It was to become the toughest little ship in the galaxy, and the only one without an intergalactic hyperdrive in the Terran arsenal, since it was too small to have one in the first place. Because of it, and because of the Wraith technology that allowed to store matter inside a matrix that didn't use up much space and that had previously been successfully tested aboard the heavy cruiser Damocles, a ship of a hundred and fifty meters wasn't small at all; or weak for that matter. It was also a class of ships that was created with an enemy as tough as the Vargas in mind. Of course, a defiant class ship could not go toe to toe with even the smallest of the Vargas ships, but if there were several of them, they could give pause even to the Vargas.

In order to battle the Vargas weapon capable of destabilizing their shields and drain them over time, the Defiant had two separate shield generators onboard. Usually, they were both in sync, that way creating a more powerful shield, but when the ship was to fight the Vargas, they used one generator until the shield was depleted, then they activated the other one while the first one was purged of the harmful energy the Vargas weapon left behind. Then it was charged again, hopefully before the other shield generator failed. The Terrans were unable to come up with a definitive solution to the Vargas weapon. It was frustrating that the Edinians, Terrans, Asgard, Nox and even with the help of Adria and the Priors could not come up with a solution to combat their energy draining weapon. They were able to create a system capable of purging their shield generators while still charged, effectively cleaning it of the harmful residual energy, but the cost of using such feature was high, sometimes even too high. If the generator was purged more than two or maybe three times at the most, the entire system would burn out and be in need of a complete overhaul. That was the reason why all ships now had more than one shield generator, so that they could swap them once one failed without risking a purge that risked permanent damage to the entire system.

The new Defiant was also the first ship to use a different type of weapon. A weapon that wasn't based on just brute force to get the job done. Since the Vargas had _generously_ left a few intact ships behind after the battle in the Eden system had ended, the allies had taken the opportunity to go through them and try to understand their technology. Of course, the ships were intact only because they were hit by a space-time displacement torpedo, with devastating results for anything living as well as for delicate control crystals aboard the ship. However, the weapon system remained intact, which gave the allies the opportunity to reverse engineer it, at least in part. They were able to create a weapon of their own, capable of draining shields just as the Vargas weapon did, and with the same ability to leave a residual energy that worked over time. However, this was only a secondary function of the newly developed weapon. Through the use of some knowledge Argos had given them, they managed to add another, more important component to the weapon. Loosely based on the same wave energy weapon form as the one created by the weapon on Dakara, a similar energy form was created that was capable of disrupting the bonds between matters - or maybe better to say, matter's underlying energy state - on a quantum level. The weapon could also be modulated for different types of targets. Depending on the modulation, it worked great against both shields and different types of armor, all being disrupted on a quantum level. Simply put, the weapon was much more effective against the Vargas energy dispersive armor since it worked on a quantum level, a level in which the type of material used meant little to nothing. At such levels, everything was simply one or another form of an energy state.

The Defiant was given four forward pulse quantum disruptors capable of variable yield and modulation. They could be set to only drain a ship's shield, or they could be set to disrupt even the toughest armors and shields and if the composition of the enemy ship's shields and armor were well known, the disruptor's energy waveform could further be tuned to increase its devastating effects. J.J. didn't know exactly how powerful it was going to be, but he knew that, together with the Edenians and Asgard, the people in the R&D department were working tirelessly in order to create a quantum disruptor beam (QDB) weapon that would be placed on larger ships, as a much stronger variant. It was planned to replace the heavy plasma beams, as the new weapon's size wasn't small by any standards. Yet, the project was already months behind schedule because the scientists were unable to find a way to create a containment field capable of creating a sufficiently narrow beam. The damn weapon fired like a cone, quickly dispersing and worsening its efficiency.

It was also the reason why the allies were still not going on a full offensive.

In addition, the Defiant had two omnidirectional plasma beams on the top and bottom of the ship, giving the ship complete coverage and the ability to fire even when it wasn't facing the enemy directly. Those were also the next generation of plasma beam weapons that now expelled some strange artificial particle J.J. never heard of before or knew why it was better than the particles they used before. The weapon also had some ability to phase modulate the beam. He was sure it was something simple to understand, but had to have some weird name so that scientists could sound smarter.

He was sure of it.

The important thing to him though was to know that the weapon was showing better results against both shields and armor even with less raw power pumped into it, which was especially useful for smaller ships like the Defiant with limited amounts of power and space at their disposal. If he could channel more power to the shields or engines because the weapons needed less, he was all for it. The changes and the need for less power with the same or higher destructive power also allowed for the weapon to have a much greater rate of fire, since the weapon didn't overheat as much. Both, this new type of plasma beam weapon and the quantum disruptors were the basis for the new generation of energy weapons that were going to replace the old ones on the larger capital ships as soon as fully developed and properly tested.

The ship was also fully stocked with a new type of antimatter torpedoes. Since Argos had graciously spent five million years creating antimatter in the pocket universe, there was no real reason why they wouldn't use the substance rather than Naquadria.

But that wasn't all. The new torpedoes were much better than their predecessor. With the newly acquired knowledge of creating strong gravitational forces, the allies were able to create directional blasts even in the megatons range. At the moment of impact, the torpedo first generated a near singularity level strong gravitational force that worked as a focusing lens, allowing for the exploding mater-antimatter reaction in the form of hard radiation to only go forward in a narrow cone instead of the usual way older torpedoes worked which was to simply explode and spread the destructive force in all directions. This way, even a torpedo of only a few megatons was capable of hitting its intended target harder than a hundred megatons torpedo of the older type that would spend most of its destructive power needlessly to the vacuum of space. The antimatter torpedoes were also better because they could easily be tweaked on how powerful the blast was going to be by simply changing the amount of antimatter injected into them prior to launch.

As antimatter went, the Defiant also came with a modified reactor in which the usual Naquadah/Naquadria reaction could be boosted considerably by bombarding the rods with additional antiparticles. In the future, all reactors based on Naquadah/Naquadria will have the ability to boost their nuclear reaction by bombarding the rods with additional antimatter in time of greater need for power.

"Can we?" Adria asked.

J.J. snapped back from his deep thoughts. "What?"

"Can we take care of that ship? I know that this is the best ship to get near the Vargas unnoticed, but maybe we should have brought one of the heavier ships instead. You know, like a battlecruiser maybe?"

It was true that the Defiant was the weakest class of ships the allies had at their disposal, but the ship was also the first with a working next generation stealth generator installed onboard. A gift from the Senari who had been able to create a stealth system even the Vargas were unable to beat. "Maybe those ships are more powerful, but until we can make the Senari stealth system work on them, the same way as we managed to do with the Defiant, it is too risky to bring them. If the Vargas detected any of our ships in the vicinity, they would never leave. Don't worry. This ship can take that Hunter's ship any day."

"I hope you're right," Adria replied, uncertain of his statement.

"Sir, the Vargas ships have crossed the threshold and entered hyperspace," the sensor officer notified her captain.

"Nice!" J.J. smiled. "Helm, set a new course for the Hunter's ship. Engage engines under stealth conditions."

"Course laid in, sir. Engaging engines at one-quarter under stealth conditions as instructed," the helm replied.

"How long will it take us to get there?" They were relatively close to the planet Quiril, but still, distances in space were vast and they couldn't push the engines to their maximum if they wanted to remain undetected under stealth.

"Fifty minutes for a zero-zero approach, sir."

J.J turned towards Adria. "Well, one more hours and the wait is over."

Adria said nothing and J.J. thought he knew why.

Only one more hour and they would finally know if Daniel and Vala were still alive.

* * *

"Ah, the joy of spending the last seven hours walking. I can barely feel my feet!" Vala said, not all too happy.

"You simply couldn't have waited for another ten minutes, could you?" Daniel retorted.

"No, Daniel, I couldn't. I managed to say nothing for the last mile or so, just as you've asked me to, but I simply cannot take another step without saying something. Something about this trip of ours. I am now fully convinced that this was a really bad idea and that we should have gone to Bowna," Vala replied. She could see the town ahead, and she was sure she already saw something moving in it. Clear sign how bad the idea to come here had been. They won't be able to make ten meters inside it before being eaten alive, she was certain of it.

"It was your idea, remember?"

"You didn't have to listen, Daniel. Actually, I'm blaming you for this. Why didn't you say that it was a horrible idea to come here and that only a completely insane person would ever decide to go walking for seven hours just to be eaten alive?" Vala replied, frustrated and frightened, while checking her rifle for the umpteenth time.

"Vala, you need to stop with this or you'll start hyperventilating. And you know how difficult it is to run from those monsters while you're hyperventilating."

"It's not funny, Daniel. I'm telling you, we should turn around and go back," Vala said, turning around ready to go back.

Daniel stopped her by grabbing her by her shoulders and with a swift motion turning her back around to face Anais once more. "And then what? We walk for seven more hours back to the cave where there's nothing left to eat? Have you forgotten there's no coffee left?"

There was some logic to what Daniel was saying, but she wasn't fully convinced. "I can do without coffee."

"No, you can't," Daniel replied, without any doubt in his voice. "Also, I was looking toward the town this whole time and I haven't seen anything moving. You're just imagining that there's something there when there's probably nothing to worry. Three days ago there was a lot of them near Velar and they are moving east, so they shouldn't even be here."

Daniel was pushing her from behind with a lot of force in order to move her in the general direction where the town Anais was, which was actually kind of nice since her feet hurt and she was really tired from all the walking. She would have to give an earful to somebody about how long those batteries in these combat suits worked. It wasn't a picnic walking in them when there was no help whatsoever from the suit. They had to disconnect the exoskeletons muscular system that was under normal conditions aiding the wearer, and now they had to carry suits that weighed fifty pound or maybe even more for an unknown amount of protection. As far as she knew, those crab-like aliens, with their pincers, could chop off one of their limbs even while they were wearing their armor. Maybe the only positive side was that the armor would make it more difficult for the aliens to eat them. Or maybe this would make it worse by making it last longer. She wasn't sure what sounded worse.

Vala sighed. While she was thinking of different ways she was going to die today, Daniel had slowly pushed her closer to the town.

"You know what we need to do once we get inside the town," Daniel said and there was no joking in his voice. He was dead serious. "We find a way to get inside some building and then we proceed to the roof. We then wait for a while to see if we can spot anything moving and if possible we move from roof to roof without going down in the street."

The plan was simple and it hinged on the aliens' inability to open doors or enter buildings with ease. They were grunts, fast on the ground and deadly in close combat against soft-skinned creatures like humans, but they had never been made with anything more than that in mind. There were others though that were very good at those other kind of things.

"What about the Hunters? What if there are not just those Crabs there, but Hunters too?" Vala asked.

"Well, if that's the case our luck has finally run out," Daniel deadpanned.

Vala understood. There was no point in sugarcoating it. She knew about the Hunters as much as he did and if he tried to downplay it, as if they were facing something not as dangerous as those aliens really were, she would know he was doing it only for her benefit. That was the reason why she was quickly turning back, only to be stopped again by Daniel. "Oh come on!"

"We are here, Vala. No point in going back now."

Vala sighed, again. She was so tired that even if she tried to go back to their cave, she would barely make it half a mile before dropping to the ground, completely exhausted. Anais was just up ahead and whatever was inside, waiting for them, they would find out very soon because there was no turning back now. The Crabs and the Hunters. She didn't know which alien race she liked less. The Crabs were disgusting and, well, they were there with the only purpose of eating you alive, which was a bad prospect. The Hunters on the other hand were there to hunt prey the Crabs missed, those the hunters deemed worthy of being hunted. With their heightened senses of sight, hearing and smell – and also believed to have some kind of sixth sense - it was almost impossible to hide from them. Running away from them was also a bad idea. The Hunters looked like some kind of lycanthropes from some horror movie. Capable of moving on all fours if necessary with incredible speed and agility, while also capable of standing on two legs and using their hands to wield weapons. The only positive thing she could think of was that, for some unknown reason, they didn't use ranged weapons. Probably because they needed to prove themselves as capable hunters even against the toughest opponents, and killing somebody with a rifle proved no such thing. Most of the Hunters the Terrans had encountered thus far used something in between a curved knife and an axe capable of cutting through almost anything. They always went hunting with two of them in both hands. The Hunters weren't as tough as the Crabs - they didn't have a tough exoskeleton to protect them - but their speed and agility was such that hitting them with any kind of weapon has been proven time and time again to be incredibly difficult. Before you even knew they were in the vicinity, they were already on top of you and you were about to die horribly.

And that is why Daniel said what he said. "Yeah, you're right. If there are Hunters there, we are as good as dead," Vala replied, resigned. In a strange way, realizing that had helped her calm down.

They entered Anais through one of the main roads that led straight for the center of the medium-size town. There was no reason in trying to reach their destination by moving through smaller streets or alleys. The same probability of stumbling upon one of those Crabs was everywhere. They were not humans and they didn't choose places like humans did on where to wait for probable targets. The Crabs would just wonder around a town until some signal told the entire herd to move on to the next place.

Thus far, no aliens were in sight. Vala had to admit though that the surroundings were incredibly similar to what she once saw in some kind of post-apocalyptic game the big guy Teal'c was playing while sequestered inside Cheyenne Mountain. She couldn't remember the name of the game though, only that it had something to do with Vegas, as she immediately recognized that name as a place on Earth where you can have a lot of fun. The scenery was very similar except that here there were no people around, which was actually a good sign. The lack of any humans roaming the streets easily meant the Crabs had already passed through this place. The presence of humans would have denied such a scenario.

The road took the two of them closer to the center of town. As she looked in one of the side streets, Vala thought they'd finally found what they were looking for. The street was filled with various stores that, if not having been raided by others, could contain food and other things that could be of great help to them. The street also had a few four or five story high buildings. If they could enter one of them and get to the rooftop, they would have a good vantage point to spot any possible hostiles.

As per plan, they tried every door until they found one that was unlocked. They got inside the building without the need to break in. Loud noises were not a good thing right now. There were stairs the two of them took, all the way up until they came in front of a metallic door that led directly to the roof. The door wasn't closed shut, as she had already dreaded. Daniel opened it and walked first onto the rooftop. Walking further, they quickly neared one of the edges.

"Well, from here we can see both the street we came through, the adjacent one and with the binoculars we can monitor that plaza over there with all those buildings around it. So far so good," Daniel said while looking down.

"Yes, Daniel. So far, we still haven't been eaten," Vala replied. Her cheerful disposition wasn't going to change any time soon.

Daniel apparently had decided not to engage her in yet another discussion on how lucky they were. "We should remain here for at least an hour, resting while watching around for any possible hostiles. If we don't see anything moving by then, we go back down and walk to that big store over there."

"You think there will still be something worth taking in there?" Vala asked. She thought it was a valid point. The store Daniel was pointing at was the biggest in the vicinity, which meant others would have targeted the same store as well.

"It's worth checking it out. If there's nothing there, I've seen a few more places where there could be some food."

Food was what they wanted the most, and food was usually the most difficult to find. In a society where refrigeration was something normal to have, only a small portion of food survived more than a couple of days when the ability to cool things suddenly disappeared together with electricity. Cans mostly and other similar products with a longer expiration date even without the need to keep them refrigerated or frozen were what they were after.

Vala slumped on the ground, leaning on the low wall of the roof's ledge. "You watch, I'll rest."

"Yeah, for half an hour. Then it's your turn to watch for any movement."

"Daniel, I'm too tired. You seem more refreshed. You don't need the rest as much as I do."

"That's true, I don't. And I'm not planning on resting."

"What are you planning then?"

"Since we haven't spotted any cars that weren't in pieces, it means that we will have to go back to the cave on foot. That in turn means that, since you're already so tired, we will have to spend the night here. I was thinking on going down inside the building and check the apartments for some accommodations," Daniel explained.

Vala barely heard Daniel as he spoke of his plan. Her consciousness was already slipping away, as exhaustion took hold of her. Daniel would have to do whatever he was planning to do without her, for the next half hour at least or maybe even a little longer.

* * *

Watching through the frontal display at the magnified image of the Hunter's vessel, J.J. could feel the excitement, the rush for the combat that was about to ensue. The enemy ship was bigger. It was more than five hundred meters in length alone, which would put him in the heavy hitters' category. Nonetheless, he thought the Defiant could take it down with ease, or at least he hoped it could. There was the fact that this was a brand new ship with less than two months of service, which had - for the most part - been spent waiting near Quiril for the Vargas to finally be gone while doing little to nothing. It meant that his ship, if he didn't count the initial shakedown trials, had never fired its weapons or had sustained any hits from a real enemy even once. Still, the small crew was good and they had kept the ship in top shape. He was confident there was nothing wrong with the ship and that it would perform admirably when the time finally came.

The Hunter's ship was also an unknown. There hadn't been many instances where the Terrans or any other member of the Alliance had the chance to witness the true strength of their ships. In fact, a real battle against that type of ship occurred only once and it was a very short one. One of the new Terran battlecruisers, a beast near a thousand meters long and with too many weapons to count them all, just exited hyperspace and found itself in front of a Hunter ship. The captain simply ordered to open fire and six lances from the six main heavy plasma beams vaporized the unfortunate offender that at the time had its shields down. It wasn't much to get a clear picture of how strong the Hunter's ship truly was. Still, it was enough for J.J. to know that the ship wasn't made from the same material as those utilized by the Vargas. The Vargas ships would have survived such an attack, probably with very little to no damage to their hull. It was the reason why they were rushing the research of the QDBs, in order to replace the not very effective heavy plasma beams, those currently installed on all Terran capital ships as their primary weapon.

As far as he knew, the ship they were about to face shouldn't be impossible to beat. He would be happier if he knew what kind of weapons it had though. He certainly was going to find that out eventually.

In about ten or so minutes.

"What are you planning to do?" Adria asked.

She was making her presence known, and J.J. didn't like it. The bridge crew was steadying themselves for what was to follow shortly, and she was clearly the interloper here. If it were anyone else instead of her, J.J. would have them removed from the bridge a long time ago. However, telling Adria to leave the bridge wasn't among the healthiest things to do, which meant that she was staying. "I'm planning to hit that ship until there's nothing but a cloud of debris in its stead."

"And what of Daniel and Vala? What if they are on that ship?" Adria asked.

The chances of that being the case were so small that J.J. was about to blatantly call it straight out impossible. Yet, the situation was tricky. If they destroyed the ship and later were unable to locate their people, dead or alive, the doubt would linger for the rest of his life. He was also certain that said doubt wouldn't be the only thing that would stay and linger near him for the rest of his life. Adria's expression was enough to convey that fact. "So, no blasting of the alien ship then?"

"I would _prefer_ if you didn't."

It wasn't an order, but denying her request wasn't a very good idea under the best of circumstances. When she was in such a mood, as the one she was right now… "It means that we will have to first disable the ship, and then board it. Easy peasy. There's nothing to it."

"You can do the first, and I can do the second," Adria replied, with her eyes flaring bright.

' _Poor bastards,'_ J.J. thought, thinking of the savage, bloodthirsty creatures on that ship. They didn't have a clue what was coming.

"We can talk about who's going to board that ship and who's going on the planet's surface later. Let's disable it first."

His job suddenly became more difficult. Yet, at the same time, he was sure that it became more interesting as well. "Okay people! We are going for a hit and run tactic. We get in weapons range, we de-cloak, we hit them with the energy-draining weapon and then we cloak back again. We quickly change course to evade any possible return fire and then we come back at them again and again. When their shields are down, we hit their engines and weapons until they are dead in space. Is that understood?"

J.J. heard his bridge crew reply promptly with many yeses. He could already see his tactical officer working on the console. He knew he was reconfiguring the pulse quantum disruptors to energy draining mode only. He also saw his pilot smiling while getting more comfortable in the driver's seat. Since this wasn't going to be a frontal assault, the pilot would have more opportunity to show what he was capable of. The Defiant was also _the_ ship most pilots wanted to be assigned to. With his maneuverability ten times better than that of larger, capital ships, every pilot put requests for such a position.

Time was slowly passing by, and soon the display would not even need to magnify the image of the enemy ship since they were now less than a thousand miles from it. J.J. turned to his tactical officer. "Get ready. Don't wait for my order. You know what to do and when it's best to do it better than I do anyway."

"Yes sir," the tactical officer replied calmly.

The Defiant finally entered optimal weapons range while at a relative speed to its target of 78 km/s and steadily decelerating. The ship de-cloaked, the pulse quantum disruptors began barking some strange purple-glowing orbs in quick succession, four at a time. The pulse weapons were showering the aft side of the Hunter's ship, making its shields flare brightly. It took three seconds for the Defiant to pass the enemy ship, with its shield switching to cloak almost at the same time as when the pilot rolled the ship by ninety degrees anticlockwise before pitching upward as fast as possible. It was strange to notice that the enemy had indeed managed to fire, even without having any forewarning or their attack, and it was only because of the pilot who had made such a sharp course change that the enemy's energy bolts went wide.

They were now making as tight a turn as the nimble Defiant could make it. Even with the inertial dampeners on maximum, J.J. was still feeling several gees. He could not imagine what would happen if the inertial dampeners made even a short hiccup during this strenuous operation.

As the ship steadied, the frontal view now showed again the enemy ship in front of them. Still its aft section, but this time from its starboard side. They were going at it from a completely different angle and from the looks of it, this time the ship was going to pass below it.

He was right. The ship switched from cloak to shields and once again began its relentless bombardment, with purple orbs hitting the enemy ship's shield in quick succession. The Defiant passed below the ship as he had predicted. It cloaked again and then it pitched upward, hard, this time without rolling first. Now the defiant was going high above the hostile ship. This was probably the third vector the pilot was going to choose for their attack, coming straight from above. The energy orbs the enemy ship had fired had this time come even closer. Maybe there was something to it when people talked about the Hunters having some kind of sixth sense. At least it seemed that way from the way the hostile vessel was able to zero-in on them.

The Defiant made its third pass, once more showering the enemy ship before quickly disappearing again. J.J. turned toward the sensors officer. "How are their shields faring?"

"Badly. Even after the second pass, their shields have steadily been draining. The third pass has sealed their fate and it is only a matter of time before they drop completely."

"Predictions?" J.J. asked.

"They are at 47 percent strength right now. I believe that in two more minutes their shields will collapse. That of course only if the enemy doesn't divert some backup energy reserves," the sensors officer replied.

It was unlikely. It also didn't matter since it would only prolong the inevitable, even if they did. "Stop with the attack. We are now going to wait until their shields are completely drained," J.J. said before turning to his tactical officer. "Nickolas, reconfigure the PQDs. Standard disruptive modulation at 350 kHz, .1 spread, low yield, fast firing mode. The idea is now to disable the engines instead of blowing everything up."

"Yes sir," Nickolas replied. "Setting weapon to omega pattern three."

The tactical officer already had most of the standard settings of the very complex weapon predefined with macro commands he could activate with a simple push of a button. One day he would have to spend some time with the officer so he could tell him what those are exactly so they could communicate faster. He knew he had gotten a memo from him about it already, but it was more than ten pages long, and after the second page he fell asleep. It wasn't very interesting reading and it appeared that, somehow, while asleep, he had pushed the delete button on the memo.

He really didn't know how that had happened.

The time when the shields of the enemy ship failed had finally come and the crew of the Defiant wasn't about to wait for the enemy to restore them. The ship lurched forth, quickly gaining on the slowly moving ship. It de-cloaked and brought its shields back up before letting loose of a hail of purple pulses, this time with the intent of causing destruction. The purple pulses peppered the rear engines, with explosions blowing up unit after unit. The last thing he saw before they passed the enemy ship was that all but one engine unit were disabled.

He then felt the impact of the enemy weapons on their shields. The tactical officer had smartly decided that now that the enemy had been able to zero-in on them with their weapons, that it wasn't the best time to switch to cloak.

"Status of our shields?" J.J. asked.

"Holding steady," Nickolas replied.

"Would you agree then that it is better to keep them up instead of risking to get hit while under cloak?" The enemy was showing an uncanny ability to predict where they would be once they de-cloaked. With that in mind, it was maybe better to have their shields do their intended job, rather than risk serious damage with the cloak.

"I agree. The risk is greater if we take a direct hit while cloaked."

"Good, let's then keep the shields up. And let's get that last engine unit destroyed, shall we?"

The Defiant made another turn. Now that the little ship was visible to the enemy, the enemy was clearly trying to turn the ship in order to protect its engine section, the little that remained of it. However, that was an exercise in futility as it should have been clear to everyone, even the aliens, that the Defiant's maneuverability far, far exceeded that of the other ship. With little trouble, the pilot put them on the right vector that allowed the ship a clear shot at the last unit. With one more explosion, the engines were now fully disabled. However, this time the Defiant sustained several hits in quick succession.

"Several hits on our shields. Shields at 92%, no damage to the hull," Nickolas replied now that they were once again out of weapons range.

"Let's do another pass. Same configuration, but this time we are targeting their weapons," J. J. ordered.

The Defiant went in again, leaving destruction in its wake.

"We were able to take several cannons on this pass," the Tactical officer reported.

J.J. turned towards Nickolas, puzzled. There was something in the way the man said the last sentence that was making him wonder. "Spill it, Nickolas?"

"Well, sir, our shields are now at 86% and the enemy ship has several dozen weapon emplacements still fully operational. I am certain that we can destroy all of them even without incurring damage to our ship, but the sensor officer also relayed to me that there's a dampening field in place preventing us from beaming our people aboard their ship. Sir, even if we manage to destroy all of their weapons, we still have the problem of having to board their ship."

"Okay, I hear ya. This could be a problem, and if I can minimize the number of times this ship is hit, I'm all for it. So do you have any bright ideas on how to accomplish that?"

"Well, yes. While in the pocket universe I heard a few of the scientists who worked on our primary weapons talking about something, and I think that it could help us in our situation. The theory behind it is somewhat complex, but the gist of it is-"

"You told me enough. It's science I don't want to know. But I do trust you. Therefore, however you're planning to use our weapons, just do it. The worst that can happen is that we waste a flyby anyhow," J.J. explained. If his officer started talking like Carter usually did, he would start feeling really depressed, and he would probably still be clueless of what the man wanted to do.

"Umm, yes sir. Setting weapons to maximum yield…"

' _Maximum yield? Is he trying to blow half of the enemy ship off?'_ J.J. thought.

"Setting modulation to pattern gamma at 210 GHz…"

' _Okaaay, I didn't know our weapons could even go this high. Besides, if I remember correctly what modulation pattern gamma is, then the ship's armor won't be affected at all. Hmm, very peculiar.'_

"Setting spread to maximum…"

' _Spread to maximum? It meant that the energy waveform won't be focused at all and that once it hits it will wash over the ship, usually in a harmless way.'_

"I'm all set up sir," Nickolas replied.

"Not sure what it will do, but let's hope at least it doesn't blow up the ship," J.J. answered.

"That's my hope as well sir," Nickolas replied.

J.J. was of the opinion that Nickolas wasn't as certain of what this would do, if anything, but, what the hell, right? What did they have to lose? Then he turned and saw the meaningful look Adria gave him, conveying her thoughts on what would follow if the ship was blown to pieces. He knew it wouldn't be pretty. She really was a terrifying woman.

"Let's do this then."

The pilot turned the ship, pushing it at max trust, straight for the enemy ship. They were nearing the ship, with the pilot skillfully evading the energy bolts coming their way by making small but meaningful course corrections. This time they were going for a frontal assault. One bolt hit them, another missed, but the important thing now was that they were in optimal weapons range. Four much more powerful pulses erupted from the pulse weapons on a straight course for the affronting ship. The purple pulses hit the front of the ship, with the energy form spreading on the ship's hull, but with no visible damage. In the meantime, the Defiant fired once more. The pulses hit the ship somewhere in the top-middle section, again with the same energy spreading in all directions. The third time the ship was hit somewhere in the rear section, just as the Defiant flew above it.

From what he could see, J.J. was of the opinion that the weird setting the tactical officer had used had accomplished exactly nothing.

"Umm, sir," the sensors officer said, with a puzzling voice. "The enemy ship has begun drifting. From this readings I'm also confident that the ship has lost all power."

"What?" J.J. asked, not knowing to whom to address the question first, the sensor officer who informed him of this unexpected development, or the tactical officer who did the deed.

"I don't know how sir," the sensors officer replied.

"You there!" J.J. said pointing at Nickolas. "Explain!"

"Well, as I tried to explain before, two scientists were talking in the mess hall that if the quantum disruptors were set in between 200 and 220 GHz, the energy waveform would have similar properties to the energy of a zat discharge, since indeed the weapon works in that frequency range. With the spreading set to maximum, they theorized that the weapon should possibly reach some of the energy conduits onboard an enemy vessel, most probably through the shield emitters that are placed on the exterior hull and that, through the shield generator, are connected to the power distribution system. Their theory was that, the same way as it sometime happens with the zat cannons, the weapon could cause a cascade overload capable of frying the ship's entire power distribution system, or at the very least blow some fuses."

"Huh, I really didn't know that. Yet, it is something very useful to know, for any captain," J.J. stated.

"As far as I know, sir, we are the first who had actually tried it," Nickolas replied. The quantum disruptor was a new type of weapon anyway.

"Maybe we'll get a medal for it, I don't know, but for now, I think that we have some other business to attend to," J.J. said, turning to the sensor officer.

"With the loss of power, their dampening field is down. We can beam aboard," the sensor officer informed promptly.

J.J. wasn't able to say anything before Adria butted in. "Give me a team of your marines in power armors and a lot of ammo, and I'm going to clean that ship for you from top to bottom."

She wasn't kidding. She was going to vent the frustration she had accumulated in these last two months on those poor, savage and murderous creatures aboard that ship. Even they didn't deserve what was coming. Well, better for them and their ship, than for him and his ship to be the target of Adria's ire. "You have a go. You know where the marines are. You go meet them while I'll inform them of the mission."

Adria was already on her way. J.J. gave a nod to the communication officer to notify the marines of what was expected of them and who was going to join them. He wasn't sure how Adria was going to clear that entire ship, but he didn't doubt for a second that she would succeed. All those aboard that ship had suddenly become prey. The Hunters were now the prey, and the true hunter was a woman on a warpath and somebody nobody should ever have on her bad side.

Time slowly passed by, then the signal came from the marines. They were ready and always willing to wreak havoc. They were beamed on the alien ship. Now it was time for the rest of the crew to do something useful.

"Right, so, I think it is time for us to go and find if Daniel and Vala are maybe on the planet's surface. How are we going to do that?" J.J. asked, yet no response came. "Come on people! There must be a way to find them. What about our sensors?"

"Sir, the sensors won't be of much help to us. The Asgard sensors are heavily reliant on subspace in order to pinpoint life signs. Their subcutaneous transponders also work by broadcasting a subspace signal and as you know subspace has been disrupted in the entire inner system," the sensors officer explained.

Sometimes things simply backfire on you. Not only the device that disrupted subspace and prevented people from traveling through hyperspace didn't help the people of Quiril from being slaughtered, but it was now preventing them from finding their people as well. "What about our ship's radar, LIDAR or optics maybe? We have very good optics capable of taking detailed images of the ground, and we know they must have been near the gate in the capital when the attack began. They couldn't have gone too far, right?"

"Yes, sir. That would have been a good idea if, well…" the sensors officer began.

Nobody liked giving bad news to the captain, but he still needed to know what the problem was. "Spill it, lieutenant!"

"Clouds sir."

"What?"

"Well, all around the location where the gate is, it's all full of dense clouds."

"Typical bad luck," now even the weather was against them. "Wait! What about our two raptors? They could fly bellow the clouds and take images. The computer onboard this ship could then receive those images and work on them for any clue where our peoples are."

"That should work sir. It will take longer since the optics on the raptors are inferior to those of the Defiant, but there's no reason why we shouldn't be able to canvas the whole area if given enough time."

"Good, good. Send both of them immediately," J.J. answered. He wanted to find them and he wanted this excruciatingly long and stressful mission to be finally over.

With the raptors on their way and with nothing else to do, he gave the tactical officer command of the ship while he was going to take a stroll and maybe even get something to eat in the small and regrettably badly stocked mess hall. There were meals that had been prepared and then put into stasis that were edible or, if not that, there were the protein bars they would get from the protein re-sequencer. They were very healthy and all, but had the downside of being disgusting, even with all the flavoring added to them. He just hoped he would be able to find one of the already prepared meals that didn't contain meatloaf. He had those for five straight days. He was sure there must be a few meals that contained other types of meat in them, like a steak even, or, if not, it meant somebody was grabbing the good ones for himself.

He would have to go and see.

\- to be continued -

* * *

 ** _Thanks for reading, and please leave a review. They are always appreciated._**


	3. Stranded - Part III

**Author's note: Here is the third and final part of the introductory chapter. Just to mention, next week I will be updating the spin-off story instead of this one. I got inspired and wrote something worth posting.**

 _ **Thanks to my beta reader, and I'm hoping you'll enjoy this chapter as well.**_

* * *

' _It is cloudy today,_ ' Daniel thought as he looked up into the sky.

It had been almost an hour now, and except for some involuntary twitching from Vala who was otherwise still fast asleep, nothing else was moving anywhere he looked. It was a good sign. A little longer and he could, with finality, say that this town was desolate. It was the best they could have hoped for. No Crabs, no Hunters, and no humans. Sometimes having other humans could be even worse than having aliens bent on eating you. In such dire circumstances, humans should be friends and allies who need to help each other. Sure, and then you suddenly are stabbed in the back because they decide how they liked your rifle better than they liked you. No, a deserted town was exactly what he needed right now. He glanced at Vala still soundly asleep. He told Vala that he wasn't tired. He told her that he didn't need rest, but that wasn't true. He _was_ tired, and when tired you let your guard down. That's why he wanted this to be a desolate place with no monsters, but also with no humans in it either.

Another ten minutes and he would go check the apartments below as he had planned. Then, both of them would go in search for the much needed and sought supplies, and if possible, he would then go in whatever bed there was in this building and sleep until tomorrow at dawn. There wasn't much else to do anyway, not after gathering what they came here to gather.

Daniel jerked suddenly. He couldn't be sure, but he thought he caught something with the corner of his eye. He turned in the direction of the plaza, around five hundred meters distant. He took his binocular and began watching in the general direction. There was nothing to see.

Then, suddenly there was.

It was a man, and he looked all worn down. Yet, he did carry some rifle with him. He also looked aware of his surroundings while looking very cautiously in all directions. Unfortunately, he was also coming in their general direction. This wasn't good. If the man continued, he was going straight for the street where this building and more importantly the large store were. The store he was planning to raid less than fifteen minutes from now. Apparently, if something didn't force that person to change direction, his plan will have to change too.

The guy wasn't alone after all.

He must have been some kind of scout for the rest of his little group because now he was able to see that there were two more men and a woman following him. They were all carrying rifles except for the woman who was carrying a gun. This was getting better and better. Four people could easily take whatever little was left in that store, leaving nothing behind.

"Vala," he whispered to her while shaking her a little. She meekly opened her eyes. "We have some company."

Her eyes opened fully. She was quickly getting up, "What?"

"People. There are people coming our way," he answered.

"You are going to give me a heart attack," Vala said while getting back down. "I was already imaging Hunters everywhere around us."

"Well, that's your imagination. I can't help you with that," he retorted. "Instead, what we have here are four people, armed and coming in our general direction."

"And in the general direction of the store, I presume?"

"You presume correctly."

"Daniel, they are going to eat all our food. If there is any food left in the first place."

"And you want me to do what exactly?" he asked. "I mean, since I'm not going to shoot them, what else can I do to prevent them from going inside that store?"

"I don't know, Daniel. All I know is that I'm not going to walk back for seven more hours without having taken something edible back with us. We should at least get first inside that store and call dibs."

"Call dibs? On the store?" Daniel asked. "Like starving people are going to listen to that kind of argument."

"We need to do something," Vala replied, with clear urgency in her voice.

"And what if they decide to talk with bullets?"

"Then, we have better bullets and armor than what they have."

"Vala, I'm not worried about their bullets as much as what the sound of them being fired will bring upon us."

"You mean… the Hunters and the Crabs?"

"If there are some in this town, bullets being fired are certain to attract them," Daniel explained. Although, the time they'd spent talking had allowed those people to get much nearer to the store. Now, even if they were to run down and go straight to the store, they would still get there too late.

"I agree. That would be bad," Vala replied.

"They are already closer to the store than we are. I suggest we let them do whatever they are planning to do and see if there's anything left afterward."

Daniel sat next to Vala. They were going to wait and see. There was a chance of the store having more than what those four people could carry. In that case, once they were gone, they could easily pick what's left. There was also the possibility of the store being empty in the first place. In such a case, a confrontation would have been pointless.

Minutes slowly passed by, with both of them almost falling asleep. In the meantime, the four people had reached the store and entered inside. It took them at least another twenty minutes before they got back out. Once out, they were showing each other what they'd found in the store. With his binocular, Daniel could clearly see that for the most part, they had found cans. It wasn't much, maybe two cans each. Regrettably, it didn't look as if there was anything left in the store. It also looked as if two of them were starting an intense argument. He couldn't hear what they were saying, but their demeanor was showing that something was clearly wrong. Daniel understood what the argument was about when one of them tried to grab the small backpack the other was carrying. Apparently, he had been accused of having found more food than what he said he did. Now the other two people were backing up the one who had accused the fourth.

It was the moment when, unfortunately, Daniel understood what was going to happen next.

"Don't do it. Please don't do it," Daniel said it, more to himself than to anyone else.

He did do it. The one being accused must have felt cornered by the other three. What he did next was to go for his rifle.

One shot rang in the street below. The woman with the gun had been the fastest to draw and the one being accused took a bullet straight in his chest. The others didn't waste any time either by doing something as meaningful as mourning the loss of a comrade. They immediately began stripping the dead guy of everything of any value.

"Idiots!" Daniel said with clenched teeth.

"Don't they realize what they did?" Vala added. They both knew how far away the sound of that gun firing could be heard, especially if the one doing the hearing were the Hunters.

"Well, soon we will find out, without a shadow of a doubt, if there are aliens still in this town or not," Daniel said, not very happy about such prospect.

"We are not going down there. If there are Crabs anywhere in a mile radius, they will be here in less than three minutes."

"I'm sure they will. Those Hunters can probably make it in even less time than that. It's strange though that those down there don't seem to think that way. They are still staying in front of the store and sharing what they took from the guy as if nothing on this planet can harm them."

"Well, the guy did hide some stuff in that backpack of his," Vala added. Not that any of them thought that the punishment fits the crime committed.

"That's not the issue right now. He's dead anyway. The other three remaining there like idiots _is_ the bigger-"

He saw it with the corner of his eyes, some six hundred meters in the distance. It was almost like a swift shadow that jumped from one rooftop to another.

"What is it?" Vala asked. She must have understood that something was wrong.

"There! In the distance," Daniel replied, sharply, while pointing to the distant building where he thought he saw something move.

Both of them were now looking intently in the general direction he had pointed to see if anything moved again. It already appeared as if Daniel had imagined it when it happened again. It startled him.

"He's already crossed five buildings!" The startling part wasn't just the distance he'd covered, but also the fact that some of those buildings were more than ten meters apart.

"How distant can they jump?" Daniel asked, seeing and yet not quite believing.

"It appears more than what we can."

While hunkered down as much as possible, both of them were looking at the progress the beast was making. It did look like some werewolf from some b-rated movie while he moved on all four. Even though moving on strange rooftops and jumping from building to building wasn't the road any of them would ever choose, the Hunter was making it look so simple. As predicted, in about three minutes the alien was upon the clueless people down still on the street and still in the same exact spot. The beast was on top of a side building now, looking straight at them. He was probably getting a feel for his prey, how dangerous they were and how best to approach them.

"We need to take him out," Daniel said.

"Daniel, I don't care about those people down there. They brought this calamity on themselves," Vala replied.

Daniel could sense how frightened she was and he also shared her opinion that those people had brought this on their heads without anyone else's assistance. Still, there was something else that needed to be considered here. He turned to face Vala. "Look, you are right. Those down there are idiots and we are not obligated to help them, but there's another problem that we need to consider."

"What else could we possibly have to consider except for the fact that shooting at that thing will inevitably expose us?"

"What do you think that monster will do once he's finished with them?" Daniel asked, waiting for Vala to find the answer.

I took a while for Vala to reply. Realizing the sad truth, she took a deep breath. "He'll start searching the area for more prey."

"Exactly. There's no way that monster is going to leave this place the moment he's done with them, and with his sense of smell that we know that thing has, I'm sure he'll pick up our scent in no time," Daniel explained.

"All right, all right. How are we going to kill it?" Vala asked.

"We do it the way those marines who managed to kill a bunch of them told us how they did it. Do you remember?"

"Yes, Daniel. Those are the things you don't forget when you're at war with these things," Vala responded.

"Good. Let's get ready then."

Both Daniel and Vala got their grav-rifles out and pointed them toward the alien. Their scopes were raised and they were already steadying their rifles. Yet, they were not going to shoot. Not yet anyway. They were waiting for the alien to make the first move. The moment when he attacks his prey, that's also the moment he's the most vulnerable and when it's the best time to shoot him from distance. There was also another step to their preparations, though.

"I'll go first," Daniel said.

"Got it," Vala replied.

The beast was already on the move, closing in on the three people in the street. It silently jumped on a balcony, now less than ten meters from them. Daniel was certain that for a Hunter this was already well inside his striking range, and he was right. The beast was getting on the balcony's edge while getting both of his knives out. Now, while gripping them in both of his hands, he was only moments away from jumping.

Daniel squeezed the trigger.

It was true after all what those who had met them in battle were saying. Those things had some kind of sixth sense. Not many believed it was true that, somehow, the aliens were able to predict what was going to happen and act accordingly in time to prevent it. And yet, that was the only explanation for how the monster was able to evade the bullet he had just fired. The bullet had traveled at more than three times the speed of sound, which meant that the alien could not have heard the shot before it hit him, much less having had the time to dodge. Nonetheless, that is exactly what had happened. The alien had stopped his attack and moved aside so that the bullet, instead of piercing his skull, hit the wall behind him. It was incredible, and at the same time very frightening to see.

It was also the reason why Daniel went first and Vala second.

Almost immediately after Daniel's shot, Vala fired as well. The alien had been able to evade the first bullet, but not the second. The second bullet hit the beast straight in the chest, which pushed the alien against the wall. Daniel didn't wait for any special invitation as he and Vala both put two more bullets in him for good measure.

The beast fell to the ground less than five meters from the three clueless people still in the process of scavenging what still remained from the dead man. Thankfully, the beast wasn't moving.

The alien had some kind of sixth sense that allowed him to escape death the first time, but even they had their limits. After having made such an abrupt movement that put it completely off balance, there wasn't much it could do to escape the second bullet fired immediately afterward.

"I can't believe this," Daniel said.

"What?" Vala asked, not knowing what the problem was.

"Those guys have put their stupor of a Hunter falling from the sky aside quickly enough. Look at what they are doing now."

It was true. The three people on the ground didn't know from where the Hunter had come from, and also didn't know who did the killing. Nevertheless, they had already gathered around the dead alien and currently in the process of stripping it of anything of any value, just the same as they had done with their recently deceased friend. They must be complete morons and at least in part insane since only such people would remain in the street unmoving, instead of running as if hellhounds straight from hell were chasing after them, which wasn't far off from the truth anyhow.

It was behavior that could cost them their lives.

"Oh-oh!" Vala said.

"What?"

"Look," Vala replied while pointing in almost the same direction as from where the Hunter had come from.

Daniel took a good look. This time it wasn't on the roof of some building, and it wasn't a Hunter either. Instead, red things were moving fast through one of the streets. At first, he saw only two. But then, there were two more, and then three more. "How glad are you that we are on the roof?"

"Very!" Vala replied. "Still, I'm not completely sure that what's coming will be only Crabs."

Daniel had to agree. However, now wasn't the time to speculate since he saw what else was coming from a completely different direction. "Look there."

From another street, more red things were marching towards them. Daniel was almost certain that those Crabs didn't have a sense of hearing, at least as far as he knew. Yet, somehow, they knew towards where to move. Maybe the Hunters were somehow able to communicate with them, or maybe they did have a sense of hearing after all. "Should we inform those idiots down there that they are being surrounded? Not that it will help them in the end. From what I've seen so far, if we tell them that Crabs are coming, they will probably run straight into them."

"I don't know, Daniel. If they discover our location while we tell them to run, I'm sure they are going to come here. And I don't want them here!" Vala explained. "How stupid can they be? Shouldn't they have figured it out already that staying there is the worst thing they can do right now?"

Again, he had to agree with her. Those people should have started running the same moment the woman had shot that man. The second sign was the Hunter falling from the sky. Daniel could not take it anymore. It simply wasn't in him to let idiots die, as they probably should. This should be a textbook case of natural selection. A way of cleansing the universe of idiots.

Daniel took a deep breath and while hidden he shouted, "RUN!"

"They are not running, Daniel," Vala replied as she was still peeking to see what was happening.

"You're kidding, right?"

"Nope," Vala replied. "They are just looking around to see if they can spot who shouted to run."

"Nice. Very nice. It is not easy to find morons at such a level," Daniel said while getting on his knees and beginning to peek at the street. In any case, it was probably too late for them to run. The Crabs were now only moments from entering the street those people were in.

Strangely, they were pretty quick at noticing the red Crabs as they got into visual range. From how things were going, he thought the Crabs would be able to reach them from behind and start dissecting them before they even noticed anything of any danger. And yet, even in this case, he wasn't sure if it would have been better if they noticed the aliens a little later. At least they wouldn't have started firing so soon while the aliens were still too far out to get a clean shot. The rifles those people were carrying could harm a Crab only if the bullet found some soft tissue on the monster's head. The way those people were shooting without even aiming didn't inspire much confidence in their abilities to score such a difficult hit.

Daniel took aim. It wasn't easy to hit a moving target when the only place that could kill it in an instant was their small head. If he tried to kill it by shooting at its torso, it would take an entire clip to do it.

He squeezed the trigger and a single bullet went out. Instead of hitting its head, he hit the alien in its upper torso. The thing had registered the hit and turned in his general direction. Daniel squeezed again and a good portion of the Crab's head exploded. He went for the next target.

"So what, we are now helping these idiots survive?" Vala asked, but Daniel could see from the corner of his eye that she was already taking aim and joining in the target practice.

"Apparently, we are," Daniel replied, before steadying his rifle, taking a breath and holding it while squeezing the trigger again. He was luckier this time, as the second Crab went down without the need for a second shot.

"No fair! That one was mine!" Vala demanded, just before squeezing the trigger again.

Daniel saw as another went down. Still, there were more coming from multiple sides and those three on the streets were not helping one bit. The woman was more preoccupied with shouting obscenities at the incoming aliens than to actually take aim. The second guy was shooting with his rifle, for some unknown reason, from the hip, without even aiming. At some point, he saw the man smile as one of the Crabs went down. The only problem was that it went down because Vala blew its head off and not him, but apparently, the guy thought he was the one that did the deed. Only the third one was of any help. He had a hunting rifle with a scope, and the man took the right amount of time to aim and shoot. He didn't hit the head every time, but Daniel was certain that at least one of the Crabs that went down was the man's doing.

"You remember, Daniel when you mentioned that a battle against both Crabs and Hunters was also the moment when our luck has just run out?" Vala asked.

"Yeah, I remember. However, we were very good at taking out the Hunter first, so, it's not the same thing here."

"Yeah, I thought the same thing too. At least that was until I saw more Hunters coming from the East."

Daniel turned his head so fast that he actually heard his neck pop. It was true. He too was able to see at least two Hunters coming their way. At this point, he got an urge to change targets and shoot those idiots down in the street instead. Because of them, now they were fighting what was probably going to be their last battle. Then he thought better of it than to waste bullets on those idiots. There was no reason to since the Crabs would soon eat them alive. "And it started as such a good day."

"I knew we should have gone to Bowna," Vala protested.

"In hindsight, I can't help but agree with you. It would have been better even if we went there and found nothing. It still would have been better."

"What is this sound?" Vala asked while looking at the sky in many directions.

"What sound?" Daniel asked. He was hearing only the rifles of the people down on the street firing, the woman's shouts and the Crabs' approach.

"I'm hearing some whining sound coming from above," Vala replied.

Daniel turned towards her and saw that she actually wasn't wearing her helmet. She took it off when she went to sleep and she didn't get it back on. It was also the reason why she was able to hear something that he wasn't. He decided to take the helmet off too. As he did, he almost immediately heard the same high peach sound somewhere to the north and on a much higher altitude. He could also swear that he recognized that sound.

Without saying anything, he moved to his backpack and quickly began rummaging through it. "Where is it?"

"Where is what?"

"Found it!" Daniel said as he took out a flare gun.

"Daniel, what are you doing? I know our situation is not one of the best, but telling those things exactly where they can find us isn't the solution," Vala replied, a little preoccupied.

"I'm not trying to end our lives sooner, Vala. What I'm trying to do is to get ready to signal that approaching Raptor where we are. That is after it gets a little closer," Daniel explained, immediately noticing Vala's excitement at the news.

"You're sure that's one of ours?" Vala asked. She clearly didn't want to get her hopes up only to find out it was something else.

"I have heard that sound so many times that I would be very surprised if it wasn't," Daniel asked, he too smiling. "I think it's time. They should see it if I fire it now."

"Then do it already!" Vala asked, clearly in a hurry.

Daniel fired the flare that went high into the air. When he had found the flare gun, he had almost decided to leave it there, as something that would only use up space and be of no real use to them. Now, he was so happy that he decided otherwise.

The flare was up and there was nothing else to do than to wait and shoot at anything that was coming their way. And soon a lot of things would be closing in on their position. Too many things. "Those Hunters are getting closer, and I don't think we have any advantage over them by staying on this roof. Much less now that there's a flare above our heads that is signaling our exact position."

Vala was just in the process of taking out another Crab, "And where should we go, Daniel?"

"Look at the building on the opposite side of the street," Daniel responded. He had a lot more time than her to look around while she was asleep.

On the other side, there was a much lower building. Not suited for watching over the city, but much better as a defensive position. The building was a police station and because of it, the roof didn't have any doors and the windows had metal bars on them. The only way in was through the front doors. A single entry point that would be much easier to defend than by standing on a roof when there were aliens capable of leaping from rooftop to rooftop or climb any side of a building without breaking a sweat. In any case, their chances of survival on this roof were almost nonexistent. They were simply too exposed.

"You want us to run to the other side? You think we can make it?" Vala asked.

"We must try," Daniel said already on his feet. "Leave everything behind except our rifles. If that raptor doesn't pick us up, we are dead anyway."

Both of them took off the roof and down the stairs. In a minute, they were on the ground floor and he was already opening the door. He exited outside, just enough to get the general situation. Left of them, some sixty meters, there were the three idiots still somehow alive and still with ammo left to shoot. On the other side of the street, several Crabs were nearing their position, now less than a hundred meters. Still, they were distant enough for him to get on the other side before they were upon them.

"Thank god those things move so erratically," Vala said as she followed closely behind.

It was true. The Crabs were not running towards them at full speed. They were checking every nook and cranny they could find as well as doors that led into open stores or bars. They were even bumping into each other while moving. If it weren't so terrifying to be surrounded by them, it would almost be funny to watch.

As he reached the entrance door of the police station, Daniel leaned on the wall, switched his rifle to short bursts of three and took aim. One of the Crabs went down the moment he squeezed the trigger. He turned quickly to see that Vala was already trying to open the doors. They were locked, and that was the reason why he heard a burst of bullets from Vala's rifle that blew the lock off. Daniel would have liked to have the ability to close the doors shut once inside, but, apparently, they would have to survive without that particular ability.

Daniel heard screams from the other side. The one that was shooting from his hip just got grabbed by one of the Crabs from the other side. In the beginning, Daniel thought that he saw only half a dozen Crab, but now he was certain there were many times that number. He and Vala had killed more than half a dozen on that side of the street, and those three people had managed to kill at least a few more. Still, it appeared that more were coming. The screams were ample proof of that fact. The other two must have noticed them standing in front of the police station because they were steadily retreating in their direction. They must have seen how they had dealt with the wave of incoming Crabs from the other end of the street and probably had decided that joining forces was a good idea. It was at that point that Daniel saw one of the Hunters drop from above, landing just behind the woman. It was over in an instant, as the Hunter beheaded the woman with a swift and clean motion of one of his knives. Then, the Hunter was turning to get near the other human, the one with the hunting rifle, but Vala was faster. At full burst, she emptied half of her remaining bullets at the Hunter. Even that thing wasn't capable of escaping that many bullets. Vala had reacted quickly, and that was the reason why that person was still alive. The lycanthrope, on the other hand, was lying on the ground, convulsing while dying.

It was over in an instant, as the Hunter beheaded the woman with a swift and clean motion of one of his knives. Then, the Hunter was turning to get near the other human, the one with the hunting rifle, but Vala was faster. At full burst, she emptied half of her remaining bullets at the Hunter. Even that thing wasn't capable of escaping that many bullets. Vala had reacted quickly, and that was the reason why that person was still alive. The lycanthrope, on the other hand, was lying on the ground, convulsing while dying.

The man put a bullet in the alien's head before proceeding closer to the two of them.

"I must thank you for the many times you've saved my life today," the man said as he reached them.

"You can repay us by watching that side and shooting at whatever comes your way. If you see that you are going to be overwhelmed, shout and we will get inside the station. We will then protect this entrance as our last defense line," Daniel explained.

"Sure, but, to what end? Once we get inside, there's no way out. Sooner or later, those things will be able to breach and slaughter us," the man asked for some clarification while reloading his rifle.

"Did you not see the flare I fired earlier?" Daniel asked. As the man nodded, he continued. "I signaled one of our spacecraft. Help is coming. We just need to hold out a little longer."

"I agree. That changes things," the man said.

"Umm, guys," Vala began saying, pausing while looking around. "Why are they not attacking us? I can't see even one Crab or Hunter, and I know I saw at least three Hunters coming our way."

Daniel had to agree. Not only Hunters but also the Crabs he knew were coming weren't entering the street anymore. Then, he understood why when he saw first one, then two, three, four and finally five Hunters popping up on the ledges of various buildings on the opposite side of the street. Also, even though he couldn't see them, he could hear the Crabs as they were gaining in numbers and waiting restlessly on both sides of the street. "They are preparing to take us with overwhelming numbers."

"Yeah, we must have left a very good impression on them, since we killed two of their Hunters. Little do they know how few in term of bullets we have left to defend ourselves," Vala explained. "I have seven bullets left. My sidearm has sixteen more."

"I have twelve with my rifle," Daniel said. "The same with the sidearm."

"You guys are really packing!" the new guy said, smiling, borderline to hysterical. "I have five bullets left. I should keep one for myself, though."

"Hey! We are not dead yet. There's still a chance," Daniel responded. He needed to keep this guy's spirit alive for a while longer.

"A chance for what? My world is dead. What am I even fighting for?" the man responded somberly.

Daniel couldn't imagine what the man was going through. He didn't know how many family members and friends he had lost in these two months and the fact that the population of Quiril had dropped to probably much, much less than one percent of what it once had been, it didn't help either.

"You're fighting so that you can get off of this planet and join us so that you can kill as many of these aliens as your heart desires," Daniel replied to the man's inquiry.

It took a while for the man to reply, but even before he did, Daniel knew his spirit was back and ready for a fight. "I will hold you to that."

"If we make it out of here alive, I'll make sure that you get the chance to be on the frontline, with the best equipment we have at your disposal. I'm Daniel by the way."

"And I'm Vala."

"I'm Renar," the man replied.

Daniel looked up. By now, there were eight Hunters that he could see. There were probably more of them out of sight on some other roof. In addition, from the sound of it, it appeared that the number of Crabs had increased as well. He was beginning to dread that the Raptor didn't see the flare or even worse case that what he thought was a Raptor was instead a hunter's craft. If that was the case, he would be responsible for bringing even more of them here. He almost began to laugh. He was having misgivings about his previous action in a moment like this, which, at this point, it didn't matter anymore. If there were no Terrans in the vicinity, they were dead no matter what he had or hadn't done.

There was simply no way around it.

"I think they are coming," Vala said. "I can see the Crabs are getting restless, and the Hunters have disappeared from sight, which is a bad omen."

Daniel didn't have time to reply as a large group of Crabs began marching into the street from both sides. They didn't have enough bullets to go full Rambo on them, so Daniel took his time and fired a single bullet. He then shot again and another Crab went down.

"I'm out," the man said. Without thinking, Daniel slipped him his sidearm. He then proceeded to calmly take another shot, even though the Crabs were by now at less than a hundred meters distant. He had ten more bullets and he knew the Hunters from above were just waiting to get a drop on them. Another bullet took another of the ugly Crabs. There were around three dozen more on his side alone. Too many to take them all down.

"We need to get inside," he said it, but frankly he didn't know how much they would accomplish without bullets.

Then, as he was already turning to get inside, he heard a very familiar sound. It was the sound of Asgard beaming. He quickly turned, and what he saw made him smile.

Cylons.

On both sides of the street, two of the elite type Cylons Sam had _re-designed_ appeared. They immediately went to work. From their grav-miniguns, a stream of bullets was cutting down Crab after Crab. Still, the Crabs were so close that they were at spitting distance from the Cylons. One Crab was actually close enough to grab one of the Cylons, but apparently, these creatures weren't designed with six hundred pound machines made of some of the hardest materials known to men as their cup of tea.

The Cylon in question simply rotated his disjointed fist and grabbed the creature's pincer. Then, it simply squeezed. The pincer exploded under the pressure. At the same time, it aimed its other hand's minigun at the Crab's head. As it fired, the Crab's head simply vanished in the hail of bullets. Unfortunately, the Crabs were not the only enemy present. Daniel saw as one of the Hunters dropped just behind one of the Cylons. With his knife, it cut one hand clean off as if it was nothing. Their molecular blade was as sharp as it gets. However, his opponent wasn't a being made of flesh and blood. Since the Cylon had lost his hand and minigun in one quick moment, it immediately used its other hand and with a swift and precise turnaround, the molecular blade that was part of it cleanly cut off the hunter's head. Daniel also noticed that another Cylon had changed from firing at the Crabs to monitoring the buildings for any of the Hunters that could still prove to be a challenge. In the meantime, the other two Cylons were cutting down the Crabs on both sides of the street. The Cylon that was monitoring the buildings must have seen something since he was following something that was apparently moving from roof to roof. He wasn't firing, which to Daniel only meant that a Hunter was smartly hiding behind some cover. Still, it also meant that the Hunters were not giving up yet.

The Cylons had exhausted their miniguns and now it was time to use their blades to cut everything that would come near them. They were doing a good job too, as Crab after Crab lost their head in the unfair fight. The Crabs were not the best fighters to fight Cylons. The Crabs clearly preferred soft targets instead.

As if from nowhere, another Hunter dropped from the sky in the middle of the street, and then with a quick jump it went straight for the neck of one of the Cylons. The Hunter pushed his knife straight through. The next instant, the only remaining Cylon with a minigun, put fifty bullets in the werewolf, but it was already too late. Even though the Hunter knew he was going to die at the hand of any of the other Cylons around him, he still went for the kill. It was maddening the level of determination and self-sacrifice these aliens were displaying. The worst part was that nobody understood their motives.

Once again the sound of Asgard beaming made Daniel smile even more. This time four Marines in their new Power Armors that made them look bigger than even the Cylons appeared in front of them. The fifth arrival was Adria.

Adria's eyes were enough for Daniel to know that the remaining Hunters were going to suffer greatly before dying, in probably some very atrocious way.

It didn't take long for parts of his prediction to come through. Again, one of the Hunters jumped down behind one of the marines. The only problem was that the alien didn't reach his target. The alien didn't reach the ground either, as he was currently floating a meter above it. Then the Hunter slowly rotated in midair to face Adria who was very much smiling at the moment.

The Hunter wasn't.

The sound the Hunter made next was enough to make anyone's blood freeze. Adria was slowly but surely crushing the creature's every bone and internal organs with her telekinetic powers. Daniel also understood why she was doing it. It wasn't just anger and the will to inflict large amounts of pain to the creature. That was only a small part of it. Daniel knew how calculative Adria could be, and right now her idea was to make known to the rest of the Hunters in the vicinity what was going to happen to them too. No matter what kind of race those Hunters were, no one could hear such screams of one of their own and not feel any kind of uncertainty, if not sheer horror.

Then, suddenly, with the sound of the hunter's neck breaking, his lamentation finally ended. Daniel couldn't be sure, but suddenly the Crabs stopped their approach and there were no more Hunters dropping from buildings either. Daniel looked up and he could see at least half a dozen Hunters standing on the edge while looking down with no resolve whatsoever to jump into the fray.

Adria turned to Daniel, with a thin, angry smile. "They still think they are going to survive this day."

Daniel knew something bad was going to happen. At first, it looked as if Adria wasn't doing anything except for the fact that she had closed her eyes. Daniel knew she was concentrating, but for what purpose, that was still a mystery.

High in the sky, the clouds began changing color, progressively becoming darker and darker.

"Oh boy," Daniel said. This wasn't the first time he saw such strange weather. He instinctively pulled Vala and Renar closer to the doors of the building.

As the clouds began to converge, electrical arcs began cracking between them with increasing frequency. Now, even the Hunters were looking up into the sky with the usual what-the-fuck expression plastered all over their muzzles. They didn't have time to keep it for long, though, as lightning began hitting them one after another as if they were lightning rods only serving to attract electricity. Each hit meant one Hunter turned into a burned and lifeless husk.

The Crabs followed with the same fate shortly afterward.

Adria opened her eyes once again. Daniel could see that she was tired. He could also see how happy she was. She moved so quickly that he barely had the time to catch her as she embraced him. He embraced her back.

"I'm so happy you're alive," Adria whispered.

"I'm happy I'm alive too," Daniel replied into her ear. "Happy to see you too."

"Ah, well. I'm just the mother. Who cares about me?" Daniel heard Vala's voice say.

Adria looked at her mother, giving her a big smile, "Hello mother. I'm happy to see that you are alive as well," As she said it, Adria went to hug her mother too.

Daniel saw the strange face the only Quirilian present was making. "So, she's her mother and you two are… a couple?"

"Yep. But most importantly, we are all alive and we are leaving this planet," Daniel answered while putting a hand on the man's shoulder.

"Sure, sure, that's great. I just think that it is a good thing for me to know the various interrelationships around here so I don't piss off, well, any of you but mostly her," the man said, still having a strange expression as if he ate something sour as he was looking at Adria. "To tell you the truth, I'm not sure if I'm terrified more of what I saw in the last two months, or of what I saw in the last five minutes."

"That's understandable," Daniel replied, even though he didn't really know what to say to the poor guy.

One of the marines approached. "We need to leave!"

There was some urgency in the man's voice and Daniel wanted to know why that was the case. "What's the matter?"

"Our beaming on the planet and the equipment we are using is the perfect homing beacon. Our Raptor has just detected a few Reapers coming our way," the marine in his Power Armor explained.

Daniel couldn't actually see the man's face inside the armor, but only hear his amplified voice coming from speakers placed on the outside. But he could still sense the urgency in the man's voice. The Reapers were the third weapon the Vargas employed in order to purge planets of unwanted inhabitants. While the Crabs ate those who couldn't defend themselves, and while the Hunters hunted down those who were good enough or lucky enough to have escaped the Crabs, the Reapers would target any source of energy they were to detect on the planet. Even with the Cylons and the marines present, facing Reapers wasn't a very good idea.

"You won't get any argument from me. The sooner we leave, the happier I'll be," Daniel replied.

The man in front of him gave a small device. Daniel understood that it must be a transponder that used radio frequencies rather than subspace as a medium to transport signals.

The marine was giving the same device to Vala when the well-known Asgard beaming enveloped him and he was whisked away.

For the first time in two months, they were finally safe.

* * *

 _ **Thanks for reading. Please leave a review.**_


	4. Ad Astra

**Author's note: I just thought of a great idea while rewatching Stargate season 8, Mobius 1 & 2, the one in which SG1 travels back in time to steal a ZPM from Ra.**

 **After they retrieve the ZPM and bury it in the tomb in order to be excavated 5000 years later, they also leave a message that says to take the ZPM and travel back 4000 years in the past, dig the tomb, and add the brought ZPM to the other one already in the tomb. Then they change the message to say to travel 3900 years this time around before** **burying everything again. Now in the future, they get two ZPMs and a message to take them both 3900 years in the past where they repeat the process. So the number of ZPM goes from 1,2,4,8,16,32,64,128 and then they actually don't have enough space in the puddle jumper to take them all, but who care, right? At this point, they have enough of them to power Atlantis, for every ship in their fleet to have one installed, to power a planetary shield, merlin's transdimensional device, and much more.**

 **However, here comes the question. Since all 128 ZPMs from various timelines are actually the very same one, does that mean that they all suck energy from the same pocket universe in subspace, or from different pocket universes?**

 **Of course, the same principle can be used to make Jack O'Neill a very rich man ;D**

 **Well, I hope you'll enjoy reading this chapter.**

 **As always, thanks to my beta.**

* * *

Standing in front of the Stargate, Aenea could not but to think of all the repercussions this magnificent device had caused throughout the ages. While the Alterrans were still very much alive and kicking in the Milky Way galaxy, more than five million years ago, the galaxy was almost devoid of sentient life. It was a perfect time for a technology such as a network of interconnected Stargates to exist since it allowed the Alterrans to connect countless worlds without anyone else mishandling the glorious device simply because there wasn't anyone else there besides them or their allies, whom they trusted implicitly. It was the easiest and the cheapest way to cross thousands upon thousands of light years from one planet to another, even to those far, far away on the other side of the galaxy. That was the time of the Alterran Golden Age, in which the race spread to countless worlds.

Then, things suddenly changed. The Ori spread a plague throughout the galaxy her non-ascended brethren had eventually succumbed to. Only a small portion of the once vast Alterran civilization was able to escape the plague by ascending or, if not, by leaving to another galaxy with Atlantis or with some other ship capable of intergalactic travel. She was among the lucky ones, those able to ascend even before the plague had started.

She and her husband both did.

The Alterrans were not a race that would give up so easily, though. Once they all knew the end was near, they put a plan in motion that seeded Earth with what would one day become the second iteration of Alterrans in the Milky Way galaxy. Her people created a device on another planet, Dakara. Then, through the gate, the activated device created a specific energy waveform that changed a specific primitive life form to be more akin to the Alterrans. In short, the device helped certain lifeforms to evolve more quickly from their current state, but also slowly and in a way that prevented the Ori virus from infecting and later killing them.

For the next several million years, everything went as they'd planned with the selected lifeform on Earth slowly evolving while one of their greatest discoveries, the Stargate, slumbered on all of the worlds it had been placed throughout the Milky Way galaxy. Little did they know that it would come a time when the Stargate would be responsible for the spreading of an evil race, the Goa'uld.

Aenea really didn't know how to feel about that. Her husband, Liam, was of the opinion that their people had done many wrongs and that one of them was to leave the Stargate network intact, the same as having left other pieces of their technology lying around the galaxy for the taking. Liam was of the opinion that they should have done a much better job at cleaning up the galaxy prior to their departure. It was one of the reasons that prompted his return to the mortal plane of existence so that he could rectify the mistakes made by his people. On the other hand, she thought that they could not have predicted such an untoward outcome, and hence the Alterrans were blameless. She could almost hear her husband replying, ' _Excuses, excuses'._

Almost as if he were here.

"What's wrong?" she heard Jack's voice coming from behind her. "You're staring at that thing for ten minutes now."

She turned with a thin smile. "Oh, it is nothing. Just reminiscing about old times."

"When you say old times, you mean…"

"Yes, I mean very old times when the Alterrans were still in the Milky Way galaxy and when we were still using this rounded device to travel between worlds," Aenea responded while pointing at the stargate behind her.

"You give the term reminiscing about the good old times a completely new dimension, you know that, don't you?" Jack replied. It was a rhetorical question, so he continued immediately. "By the way, since I don't see the usual number of scientists scurrying around in all directions and doing things I mostly don't get, am I correct in assuming that everything is ready?"

Aenea looked at Jack, giving a small but meaningful sigh.

"Uh-oh. Is it that bad?" Jack asked.

"Well, as I often hear your people saying, it could be worse," Aenea replied, giving a hopeful smile. "It could definitely be worse than how it is."

She wasn't fooling anyone, much less Jack. "Okay, give me the whole story."

She turned to face the table where her pad with the relevant data was. By willing it, the data-pad effortlessly rose from the table and flew into her hand.

"You got to teach me that!" Jack said all excited. "Do you know how often I lay down on my couch to watch TV only to realize that I forgot to take the remote with me?"

Aenea chuckled, promptly replying with just a hint of sarcasm. "Well, I suppose that _your_ reason for wanting to learn telekinesis is as good as any other I heard over the eons. However, Jack, as far as I know my husband left you the latest repository of knowledge that, among other things, contains the necessary training lessons you need to follow in order to gain such abilities. Or, if not, you even have the possibility of the knowledge that an Alterran expert had recorded to be directly downloaded into your brain. Although there are no guarantees that a download would give you the ability you so desperately seek, I believe that _that_ is the fastest way to achieve your goal, which if I understand it correctly is to become even lazier than you're right now."

"It is not about being lazier. I train each day by running ten miles and by doing other calisthenics. The problem is that forgetting my remote every time I lay down on my soft couch in order to finally relax after a hard they of work filled with paperwork is starting to seriously get on my nerves. As far as training my mind goes, I already did the exercises as explained by that box Liam gave me, but I'm still unable to get my remote in my hand by just willing it. I have improved my telepathy quite a bit - even though I have no real interest in reading other people's thoughts, but apparently, it is a good thing to improve such an ability because it helps when you interface with Alterran technology - and for some reason I was able to heal Bra'tac with ease," Jack explained with a hint of frustration. Apparently, the ability that he wanted to use the most was among those that didn't come easily to him.

"Telepathy is among the strongest abilities in our kind, and therefore the one that comes the easiest to us. Conversely, your ability to heal is among the most difficult and advanced abilities our kind has ever developed. The way of creating the necessary form of energy that heals another on a cellular level through simple touch, not to mention the ability to first determine what kind of injury or malady one has, is quite spectacular and quite rare in our kind. I also believe that you're wrongly speculating that you did not have any training in that regard," Aenea stated.

"What do you mean?" Jack asked, uncertain. "I haven't touched any of the exercises related to healing the box has suggested,"

"You are forgetting the two prior times you had two distinct repositories download our entire knowledge into your mind. I can't be certain, but, in addition to you apparently being naturally talented at healing, the download must have made enough changes in your neural pathways so that now it comes almost reflexive for you to use that portion of your mind," Aenea explained.

"Well, it's not like I get how any of it works anyhow. So, I'll have to take your word for it and simply continue to peruse through that box Liam gave me until I succeed in my goal, which is to fetch my remote at will, no matter where it is in my house," Jack said. "Anyway, let's get back to the main topic, shall we?"

"Yes, we definitely shall," Aenea replied promptly, quickly thinking about what they were discussing prior to the conversation taking a strange turn. Thankfully, she inherited her race's ability to recall past events with crystal clarity as if doing a quick rewind. They were talking about the trouble they were having with the stargate. "Well, as you know, the first time we dialed the nine-chevron address, we were able to connect to Destiny and to send a probe to test if the ship was still intact and if there was breathable air present on the other side, which there was. However, the Naquadria in the planet's core quickly became unstable and we had to break the connection."

"That's the part I already knew. What I want to know now is how you solved the problem so that we can dial again, and this time for longer than one minute!"

"Yes, well… we didn't," Aenea replied, not too pleased with the answer she had to give.

"Didn't what exactly?" Jack asked, clueless.

"We didn't solve the problem because the problem cannot be solved. This planet is unstable, and more the gate is used, the more unstable it will get. I'm sorry but a few years ago some tectonic plates shifted and now every time energy from the core is used, the planet quickly becomes unstable. The process is also irreversible."

"So, what? We are scrapping the mission?" Jack asked, clearly not liking the direction this conversation has taken.

"Not if five minutes is enough to send people and resources through," Aenea replied. That was all the time they were able to squeeze by adding some strong energy capacitors.

"Wait! Are you telling me that what we can get is a five-minutes-long connection? Then what? We have to redial again?" Jack asked. Apparently, this whole thing wasn't going as it should, and his face was conveying his dissatisfaction.

"No, Jack," Aenea replied, shaking her head to let him know that the situation was worse than that. "We have five minutes and that is it. After that, you need to find another, more stable planet if you want to connect with the ship again."

"Well, then it's settled. We are scrapping the mission," Jack said, with finality.

"We shouldn't do that either. Ilium wouldn't have come to me and told me that we need to board the Destiny if it wasn't important."

"Ah, but you see, this is the part that I don't get. Why didn't he explain _why_ it is so important to send people on that damn ship?" Jack replied. He was getting angry at this whole situation.

"I don't know. It is strange for ascended beings to interfere with the mortal plane on any level. What he told me is that he strongly advises us to send a joint team comprised of Edenians and Terrans to the Destiny. I'm sorry, but that's all he said," Aenea answered. She understood perfectly how Jack felt, and in part at least she felt the same frustration. However, just because they didn't like how the ascended Alterrans did things, it didn't mean that they shouldn't send anyone onboard the Destiny or that what Ilium told her wasn't in their best interest.

Jack took a deep breath, apparently needed in order to calm down. "So, it's five minutes then."

"It's five minutes in the best of circumstances. No matter how many calculations we make, in the end, nobody can be certain that the planet's core won't destabilize sooner than planned," Aenea replied.

"So, we are still risking the planet blowing up, is that it?" Jack asked. This was getting better and better.

"No, the planet is not going to blow up. We were able to add a failsafe to the system to prevent that from happening. If the core becomes too unstable, the failsafe will automatically kick in and the connection will be cut before the planet can go critical. We will also know beforehand when the core is nearing a critical point, so there's no need to panic."

"This means that we can't plan what to send through. Not exactly anyway," Jack replied, thinking hard about their current conundrum.

"We've come up with a system. If you approve, we are going to send what we think is the bare minimum of people needed while carrying backpacks filled with essentials. Then we begin sending floating carts with more gear. Again, what we think is more important goes first and then followed with what remains, together with more people of course. We do this until the connection is cut or if everything we planned to send has gone through," Aenea explained.

"And if I approve of this insane mission that is probably going to strand people on some ancient ship somewhere half way across the galaxy, how long until everything is ready to go?" Jack asked, clearly not liking the entire concept, but resigned to follow through nonetheless.

"Well, since we were ready the first time we dialed the ship, we don't need much additional preparation. Just to collect more gear that is readily available on this base, because there won't be any redialing." Aenea replied. Ever since their failed first attempt, everybody who volunteered for the mission has remained on standby. "With the go ahead from your side, we can gather everyone and everything we need in as little as two or maybe three hours."

Jack wasn't saying anything. He was clearly thinking if giving the go ahead was even a good idea. "Well, they are all volunteers. Who am I to stop them after they were told what the mission entailed, the risks involved, and yet, still willing to go. As the representative of the Terran Council, I'm granting permission for this mission to proceed. Do you allow this mission to proceed from your end?"

Both Terrans and Edenians were to be sent through the gate to a ship that could possibly break apart at any given moment. Therefore, in order for this mission to happen both sides needed to agree. Now that Jack had given the go ahead, suddenly Aenea found herself feeling uncertain.

Was she sending people to their deaths? Too little, too late for second guessing.

"Yes, as the representative of the Edenians, I concur that this mission should proceed."

"Well, then. Let's get this ball rolling," Jack replied.

* * *

It took three more hours to get everybody and everything ready, but the time to embark on a new adventure has finally come. And now that it was finally time, he didn't know what had possessed him to accept this mission in the first place. His previous job as the man in charge of Borealis had been a boring one, most days of the week. After the Leptinians had found out where the city-ship was, they had spent the rest of the war submerged at the bottom of a very vast ocean, and out of any possible harm.

For a military commander, that was almost like dying.

There was nothing for him to do other than to wait and devote all of his considerable amount of free time to administrative duties or on meaningless walks up and down the vast city, which wasn't exactly what he would characterize as his dream job. Then the war with the strange Leptinians ended and it only took to turn a few Leptinian systems into very dense matter, part of the newly formed black holes in place of stars. The Leptinians, or rather, the Leptinian Hive Mind must have quickly put two and two together and decided how a strategic retreat was the best - if not only - solution at its disposal.

Apparently, the Hive Mind was still of the same opinion three years later, as no Leptinians have been sighted since.

Since the war with the Leptinians was by all accounts over, suddenly having a military man as the leader of Borealis became even less important. Borealis would remain in the LMC galaxy for the conceivable future, but it would be under civilian leadership with just a military commander present and only in an advisory role, the same as it was the case with Atlantis. Borealis was needed in the LMC galaxy in order to further diplomatic relationships with the Tik'al. It was the reason why he wanted to do something else. Something more than to be just a military advisor on a purely diplomatic mission.

He had spent the last two years doing many jobs, including being the captain of a spaceship. The Terrans spent those two years mostly in peace. Therefore, he could say with certainty that that particular job wasn't his dream job either, since spending endless hours as captain of a capital ship that had been placed in orbit of Tollana in order to safeguard the planet from an enemy that never came, turned out to be even more boring than when he was in command of Borealis. Furthermore, he had gone through the whole Genesis Project, with his DNA ending up being rearranged. The result was increased vitality - almost as if he was twenty years old again - which was making his job of sitting in the command chair of a space ship, day after day, all day long, many times worse. He wanted an adventure and his current job wasn't giving him one. Then, unexpectedly, the opportunity to embark on a true adventure finally came. He was going to lead an expedition aboard a distant ship, the Alterrans had sent millions of years ago, currently somewhere half across the galaxy. It would be a joint mission with Terrans and Edenians working together.

Standing next to him, he could see Lora, the Edenian lead scientist, while she was talking to a young Terran scientist who, as far as he knew, had volunteered to join this mission because of his fascination with Alterran technology. After having spent years browsing through Atlantis' database and learning everything there was to learn - Alterran related - he had decided that he wanted to see how ancient technology looked like millions of years ago. As good a reason as any for going on a perilous journey like this one. Especially if compared with his reason, which was boredom. Eli Wallace was, supposedly, a Genius who after the transformation he went through with the Genesis project could rival even an Alterran. That was probably the reason why he preferred the company of Lora, who herself had gone through a similar transformation and was now for all intent and purposes a true Alterran. The Edenians were going through a similar project as the Terrans were. The Alterran race was once again alive in the mortal coil, and not just a few individuals, but many tens of thousands already converted and growing steady.

"Colonel Young, are all Expedition members ready?" Aenea asked from behind him.

He turned toward her and Jack, both standing side by side. "Some more than others."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jack asked.

"Nothing sir," Young replied before turning and looking at the gathered group in the gate room and in one of the corridors that led to it. There were many people present. "It's just that, while everybody is here and is ready to embark, I see a few faces in the crowd I would guess are showing doubt."

"Doubt?" Jack asked.

"Yes, doubt. I think they were shaken up a bit by the revelation that this is the last dial out that can be made from this planet. It means we'll be alone for who knows how long and I see a few people wary about this whole mission."

"Did you ask them if they wanted to reconsider?" Aenea asked.

"Of course I did. I don't want people who don't want to be here on this mission. Nevertheless, they all told me how they are ready and willing. A few said it was just last minute jitters before the gate opens. None said that they don't want to go, which I think it's very strange," Young answered. Frankly, he thought there would be many who, once they found out there wouldn't be any more dialing from this planet, would have decided that maybe staying back home is a solid decision.

"Why strange, Captain? A lot of people here are from the military, and even though this mission is for volunteers only, military personnel usually don't back down when things get tough. The rest are scientists who, in my humble opinion, are _nuts,_ to begin with. They are the kind of people who when there's a new discovery to be made they don't see danger even if it stands in front of their eyes, so…" Jack explained.

"Maybe you're right."

"So, let me then ask the same question again. Captain Young, are you and the rest of the expedition members ready?" Aenea asked again.

Young gave another look at the people whose lives he'd be responsible for, before turning toward O'Neill. "We are, sir."

"Good. Then let's dial Destiny," Aenea replied, before giving a nod to another scientist who was stationed at the console next to her.

Almost immediately, the gate began spinning.

"Okay, people!" Young shouted for everybody to hear him clearly. "As you can see, the gate is already spinning, which means that in a few seconds we will establish a connection with the ship Destiny. Since we were able to ascertain that there's breathable air on the other side the last time we dialed and since we don't have time to waste, the moment the connection is established, I'm going to give the go ahead. When that happens, I want everybody to follow me through the gate just as we planned. We don't have a lot of time and I want as much equipment as possible to take with us. So, no second-guessing or delays of any kind. We need to go through the gate as fast as we can, but keep it orderly. I don't want any accidents," Young concluded before moving at the head of the expedition and less than five meters in front of the gate. "Is that understood?"

A chorus of yeses had echoed in the gate room only instants before the ninth and last chevron locked into place. The gate suddenly connected, with the watery-like surface exploding forth and almost reaching Young before quickly settling back. Young gave a last look at the people behind him. The marines and navy officers were all wearing the mark III combat armor or the Edenian equivalent. It was also clear to him that they were ready for anything, easily deduced by the way they were holding their weapons at the ready. The rest of the people, both Terran and Edenians, were wearing a dark gray skinsuit with a honeycomb pattern ingrained in it, with a belt, backpack, and some even with an additional vest that would grant them a little more carrying capacity for their belongings and other essentials. Young knew the suit was armored and capable of forming a helmet in an instant in order to protect its wearer. Also, the skinsuit could provide enough breathable air for the next thirty to forty minutes depending on the person's size, even without any additional source of oxygen. The suit could keep a person warm in an extremely cold environment or cooled in an extremely hot one. Even most forms of radiation would be blocked for a moderate amount of time. The skinsuit was to be given to all navy personnel since it had been found that many had died needlessly in the Battle of Eden because of sudden decompression of the ship due to battle damage. If sailors had been wearing this suit at the time there would have been more than enough time to beam them aboard other ships before asphyxiation could have occurred. Although not capable of providing protection on the same level as the combat armor, the special material was able to stop a bullet from a handheld gun with relative ease. Even plasma or other energy forms like those of stun weapons from light weapons would be dissipated and partially absorbed in order to protect the wearer. This was possible because the suit was not only made of a tough material, but it was also technological in nature, with nanotechnology embedded into it. The suit could even display a myriad of information about the wearer, the suit's status or of the environment on the wearer's left or right forearm, based on their preferences. It was a marvel of technology that didn't necessitate people to wear cumbersome, armored suits, yet still capable of providing a modicum of protection for their people.

It was strange to see a bunch of scientist, engineers, doctors and whatnot, all wearing the same thing and only distinguishable by the different color of the suit's collar. These people wearing the same suits looked so weird in his eyes. Then he remembered that once the ship was secured, he too would have to wear the same skinsuit, and making him distinguishable among others only by the blue collar that signified his association with the navy's command hierarchy. He didn't like it. He knew the people who had designed the suit told them that the wearer's comfort had been of great concern to them and that people should be able to comfortably wear them all day long. However, he had taken the liberty of packing some additional clothing in the form of the to him more comfortable navy casual uniform made of cotton and large enough to not feel constricted in any way or weird places. He knew others had done the same by packing their own clothing. He saw several people doing it. Once they had settled, he would notify everybody that it was okay to wear such clothing at least while not on duty. Maybe in time, he would allow people to wear them even while on light duty, like when in your office or on the bridge.

Well, no matter how people looked in these strange new suits their scientists had come up with in order to better safeguard their lives, it was now time to stop thinking about it and finally embark on this new journey. A journey he hoped would turn out to be more exciting than his previous jobs had been.

"Let's go!" Young shouted, just as he himself began walking toward the gate. A few more steps walked with no hesitation and he was through.

Young exited through the gate with too much speed. He stumbled, barely managing to remain on his feet. He steadied himself before straightening up and giving a look around. The room was poorly illuminated and by taking a breath, he instantly understood how thin the air was. He quickly moved to the end of the room near the doors while scrutinizing his surroundings. Their first job was to make as much free space as possible for everything they were planning to bring, but he quickly came to the conclusion that there wasn't anything in here that could be moved anyway. He also needed to inform others that the exit velocity wasn't the same as the one they entered with.

"This is Captain Young. Be warned when you step through the gate that your exit velocity will be greater than the one you had when you stepped into the event horizon." He didn't even finish his sentence when two people came rushing through the gate. One managed to remain on his feet, while the other stumbled and fell. The other helped him get back up and together they moved away from the gate. Two more come, again stumbling, but nobody falling this time. By the time the third pair came through, they were walking much slower. They must have gotten his message and adjusted their walk accordingly.

"Is it just me, sir or the air is very thin in here?" Commander Scott asked. Since the scout drone had confirmed the presence of breathable air, nobody had their helmets hermetically sealed. "I can barely breathe in here."

"No, it's not just you. When the probe checked the place the first time we dialed there was more pressure than there is now. Which means…"

"Which means that we have a leak on the ship, sir," Scott finished.

Young turned toward the gate and saw as the lead scientist Lora and Eli just stepped through it. He rushed to meet them. "I need your help."

"What is it?" Lora asked, but she must have understood immediately what the problem was. "The air. It's too thin."

"Yes. I want you and all of the scientists to start working on the problem, the moment they step through the gate. My men will take care of hauling everything that comes through the gate to someplace else."

"I will try to access the console over there, and I'll have a few people going around and search if there is some central command system that can access the entire ship," Lora replied.

Unfortunately, Young knew, there was no one alive with the knowledge of how to operate Destiny or where important sections were located. The ship departed so long ago that not even Atlantis contained the specs of the ship. There wasn't even a plan to build Atlantis when Destiny was sent on its long journey, and when the Alterrans began ascending and with the disaster with the plague, Destiny's mission became obsolete and nothing more than a distant memory. "You do that, and do it quickly. I don't think we have much air left."

Young went back to Scott who was helping whomever or whatever was coming through the gate. The worst that could happen is for some cart to topple and block the gate. "How are things going on your end?"

"Nothing we can't handle, sir. We are just pushing the carts on both sides of the room or through the door into the corridor. People are smart enough to move immediately as they come out, so no problem there either."

"Good, that's very good," Young replied, but he was actually already in the process of checking the room to see how much space they were using and how much more they needed. Many carts were waiting at the base to go through the gate, and he would be the happiest if he were to receive them all, especially now that he was certain that the ship was in bad shape. A leak was proof enough in his book. "Try to push more carts through the door and into the corridor. If we keep up like this, in two minutes we won't have any space left in here."

"Yes, sir."

Scott was doing his job well, and he was doing it quickly too. It wasn't strange that he'd asked him to be part of the mission. He had worked with him before and he knew how dependable the man was.

The earpiece in his ear chirped. "Captain Young, the planet's core is becoming unstable. We estimate no more than two minutes before the failsafe engages and the gate shuts down."

It was the voice of Aenea he'd heard over the comm. "Send us as much as you can, as fast as you can. It seems the ship is in bad shape and we will need as much equipment as we can get to repair it."

It didn't take long for carts and people to start coming faster through the gate. They were now barely capable of getting them out of the way before more were coming. Two more times a pair of people came through in between carts. Young recognized the last two people and he knew no more were coming. All expedition members were present and accounted for. Now it was only a question of how many carts would make it through, pushed from the other side before the gate shut down.

The answer came only seconds later, as the connection abruptly ended. He was certain some carts didn't make it.

He moved back to where Lora and Eli were still working on the console. "Have you found the leak?" he asked, hoping that it was only one leak instead of more.

"Yes, we have," Lora replied, showing the location on the small display. "I tried to close the doors, but they are not responding. It must be a mechanical issue."

It was difficult to understand where those doors were on the ship since even one of their laptops had bigger screens than those on the consoles, and in order to see where they were, Lora needed to move the map the display was showing sideways.

"Scott!" Young shouted to get the man's attention. He succeeded. "You need to go to where this map is showing the breach is and close it. Take a few scientists with you. Lora will tell you who's best at this sort of troubles.

"Yes, sir! I'm on it," Scott replied.

Scott spoke with Lora, who pointed at two scientists in the mix of people in front of them. He went to talk to them and in less than a minute they were on their way out of the gate room.

Young didn't know what else he could do. Everybody was already doing something. Most of the people were gathering things, moving them out of the way and trying to bring some order. Others had already gone out of the gateroom and were searching the ship. No matter who built the ship or how long ago, there should be accommodations they could use. After all, even the Alterrans had planned to board the ship at some point. It seemed the expedition members knew what they were doing even without him micromanaging the situation. He decided that the best course of action was for him to wait and do nothing, knowing that if something needed his attention, people would come to him.

* * *

The next two hours passed in a blur of motion, with people moving in all directions while doing all kind of things. At first glance, it looked as if complete strangers were all running around like chickens without their heads, but Young knew they were all doing specific tasks in order to get settled aboard the ship as quickly as possible. Now, in the temporary command center, as they were calling the decently large room they had found with a working workstation in it, Scott, Lora, and Eli were giving him a recap of the situation. It was time to find out how bad things truly were with the ship.

"The doors leading to the docked shuttle are not working. We had to close the shuttle's doors instead, which, as far as we were able to gather, can be closed only from inside the shuttle, for some reason I don't quite understand," Scott reported, clueless why that was the case.

It was true. The idea of having shuttles docked on the outside was weird, to say the least. It makes any repairs that may arise that much more difficult to deal with. Having no way to close the shuttle's doors except inside of the craft was bordering on negligence. Maybe whoever designed Destiny didn't care about such things since he or she knew they wouldn't be the ones having to board the ship millions of years later.

"So, how did you manage to close the breach?" Young asked. He wouldn't want for some crewmember in a spacesuit to be stuck on the other side, waiting to die of asphyxiation.

"We sent a remotely controlled Cylon," Scott replied.

There was that option too apparently. He barely remembered that they brought Cylons with them, much less getting the idea of using one in such a way. To tell the truth, when people back home suggested taking a few with them, he wasn't all that sure if those tin cans would be of any use, except maybe for doing some remotely controlled repairs. Now, he knew better. "Good thinking, Scott."

"Thank you, sir, but it still isn't a permanent solution to our problem."

"How do you mean?" he asked and saw Scott giving a nod to Lora to continue explaining.

"Even with the breach sealed, there's not enough air left on the ship."

"You mean that the life support system doesn't work properly?" Young asked.

"That too, but that's not the bigger issue here. We can deal with the CO2 scrubbers not working. We have planned for it from the start because we knew they would be in poor conditions after such a long time, and we are already replacing the compound inside them with something we brought with us; the catalyst responsible for extracting oxygen from carbon dioxide."

"So, what's the problem then?"

"The problem is that the first time we gated to Destiny, the ship used all of its considerable reserves of air to fill the ship so that whoever came through they wouldn't suffocate. Since there was a breach on the ship, that air was slowly vented into space and currently, there are no more air reserves left to replace it."

Now he understood. "So, what's the solution? I mean, people are already feeling lightheaded and we need to use oxygen tanks from time to time if we want to stay lucid."

"We need to get new air, and not just a little to raise air pressure but enough to restore the reserves as well. We will need those as we restore sections of the ship that are now close to us because they are open to space," Lora explained. "And there's only one way to accomplish such a feat. We gate to a planet with breathable air and send people to collect as much of it as possible."

As far as things that were difficult to collect went, the air was one of the most difficult he could think of, especially since he knew they needed a lot of it in order to fill the entire ship and reserves. "And once we gate to that planet, how are we going to bring so much _air_ back?"

"We use canisters under pressure. It won't be easy, and it will take time, but-"

"Umm," Eli murmured.

"What Eli?" Lora asked.

As Eli was standing next to her, he just turned his laptop to show her something. "Can we?"

Lora was apparently looking at something on the laptop before she smiled. "I don't see why not."

Young felt left out of the conversation, which was bad since he was – _supposedly_ \- the man in charge of everything and everybody. "Care to share with the rest of us?"

Eli gave the laptop to Young. It took him a while to understand what the schematic was showing. "And you think it will work?"

"I don't see why it wouldn't," Eli replied.

"I agree," Lora added.

"And how are you going to build this contraption?" Young asked.

"We brought a matter synthesizer with us, and since I already have the schematics half-ready, it should be short work of building one," Eli replied. His laptop was a special item and Eli was very protective of it. Lora had modified it so that, in the same way as many Alterran technologies worked, it could read Eli's mind with incredible accuracy. In order for the laptop to write something like code, or draw something like a schematic, the only thing Eli needed to do was to think about it. It made many of the things he did on a daily basis being done much faster, if not being done almost instantly.

Young almost forgot about the matter synthesizers. Those things were capable of building almost anything if given the right raw materials and fed with enough energy. The only thing they were not good at creating was compounds that tended to go boom, things made of energy dispersive materials – like their new skinsuits - and components that needed to be built on a subatomic or quantum level in order to work properly.

"Then let's get us some fresh air," Young said.

* * *

Scott was the first to come out of the gate and to step onto this completely alien world. He didn't know how he felt about that. At this precise moment, while the others were still on the ship, he was the only human standing on a planet in a one and a half billion light-years radius. Yet, he did not feel any exhilaration from it. He knew he should, but for some reason, he felt the same as when he stepped on some other planet in the Milky Way galaxy.

Behind him, Greer, Roberts, Eli and some Alterran scientist called Lora he barely knew, had just stepped through the gate. This time around, they were all wearing armor. The Terrans were wearing the relatively new Mark III combat suits - flexible, yet giving excellent protection - while Lora was wearing the Guardian's counterpart. She was looking like a slightly deflated crisis character. When he looked at her and at Eli, he didn't think of them as scientists but rather as soldiers. Not only did both types of suits turn anyone wearing them, even novices, into living weapons, but not even one member of the expedition would have been allowed to come on this mission if he or she did not go through the three months long and rigorous training regimen held on Haven. There was also no reason why they wouldn't since a part of the Genesis Project was to allow humans from Earth to withstand gravities on planets larger than Earth like it was the case with Haven. Their latest colony had a 1.45g gravity, which gave a person who normally weighed 200 pounds an additional 90 pound, which wasn't easy to carry for longer periods even under normal circumstances. It was even less when the need to carry some heavy object was added as a bonus, which, again, on Haven was by 1.45 times heavier than usual. Anybody could put two and two and quickly conclude that without the Genesis Project only athletes in their prime years could survive on such a planet for a prolonged period of time. Because of it, the Genesis Project had increased both their bone and muscle density so that Terrans could survive under similar conditions as those on Haven for an indefinite amount of time. Without it, colonization could simply not happen on such planets.

Giving birth and hoping for the child to survive, would be outright impossible.

The harsh regimen all members were put through before the mission began also took place on Haven, just like with all the Marine, Army and Space Navy recruits. In the beginning, none of the scientists liked it. Not the Terrans and not the Edenians, but in the end the results were what counted the most. By looking at Eli, he could say that in addition to being a genius he was now also somebody capable of taking care of himself or of others if necessary, even under dire circumstances. The additional nanites every member of the expedition was injected with and that were helping them heal injuries or fight infections was also a godsent, especially since they were to be sent on planets where no humans had ever set foot on.

Moreover, as case and point, this planet was a prime example of that.

All around them there was thick vegetation as if they had just stepped inside a thick jungle and with the humidity reaching barely tolerable levels. Just at that moment, something resembling a bug flew past him. The only problem was that he was sure the bug was at least five inches long and purple in color. He turned to look at the rest of the team. They were already working on the contraption Eli had designed and later built with the matter synthesizer.

In the end, it wasn't anything special what Eli had come up with, but that, of course, was easy to say in hindsight. What they were working on was a turbine Eli had built and that was powered by a Naquadah unit, their new version of Naquadah generator. Its size was smaller than the original generator Sam Carter had designed many years ago, and overall it looked like a glorified brick with two connectors on the sides and with a touchscreen on top. It was also capable of giving five times the amount of energy of the previous model of similar size. Naquadah units can be stacked on top of each other to increase the power output, while still retaining its compact and sturdy nature and ease of carrying. However, for this mission, one of these units was more than enough to power the turbine. Actually, using anything that used nuclear fission to generate energy was excessive to power what was not much more than a glorified vacuum cleaner, but they didn't have any better option, so this had to be the first nuclear vacuum cleaner in existence.

Eli was just about to attach the hose that was large enough for a person to crawl through it on one side of the contraption. The hose would go inside the event horizon of the stargate, and through it, the turbine would pump air on board the ship. Usually, the gate did not allow for air, or even water, to travel through, as it was a security risk. However, this worked only when the air pressure was the same throughout the entire surface of the event horizon. With the hose put inside the event horizon, they would achieve a perfect seal, and the turbine would create many times higher pressure on the event horizon, which will then allow the air to travel on the other side.

"I think we are ready," Eli said.

"Then dial Destiny and let's start pumping air into the ship. The countdown is giving us ten more hours before the Destiny goes back into FTL and we still don't know how to take full control of the ship," Scott said.

Without saying anything, Eli dialed Destiny with his remote gate controller. The gate erupted as it was its usual behavior and both Lora and Eli took the hose and the turbine and moved them in front of the gate. Eli put the other end of the hose barely inside the event horizon and then used some clamps to fix it onto the ground just in front of the gate so that it wouldn't move.

"I'm going through. I'll contact you when you can activate the turbine," Lora said, before stepping inside the gate.

It didn't take long for her to send the message for Eli to start pumping air. Eli pushed a button on the side of the contraption he had built, and the turbine slowly began getting speed. As the speed steadied, he then worked on a small slider that when moved increased the turbine's speed further and further. Eli touched his earpiece before talking. "Lora, how is it going on your end?"

"It's great. My calculations say it will take us no more than seven hours to restore the ship's air reserves," Lora replied over the comm.

"So, everything is working fine?" Scott asked Eli.

"Yeah, everything's going smoothly for now."

That was great, but now he didn't know what to do for the next six or seven hours, the amount of time he would have to spend on the planet. "Well, you and Roberts can stay here and keep an eye on that contraption of yours, while Greer and I are going to check things out around here," Scott said, immediately noticing the unhappy faces on both Eli and Roberts. They were going to stay here and babysit the machine with nothing else to do. On the other hand, he was able to see the smirk on Greer's face. "Well, see you later," he said, before moving away from the gate and deeper into the jungle.

* * *

Lora was so immersed in her work on the console in front of her that she didn't even notice when the captain came back in the gateroom. "Oh, Captain Young, I haven't noticed when you came in."

It was strange for her to address people by their last name. The Alterrans, and through Liam the Edenians too, always used first names and only used last names when there were ambiguities, as when referring to somebody when there was more than one person with the same name in the room. However, for some reason, Terrans used to call other people by their first name only occasionally and usually only when talking to close friends. Such behavior was strange to her because she thought of everybody in the expedition as allies and friends, and she thought that others should feel the same way. However, most of the Terrans were referring to each other by both rank and their last name, even those who knew each other for years, like Everett and Matthew. Instead, they were calling each other Young and Scott respectively. All this was new and very peculiar to her, and she was glad that at least with Eli she managed to change that. From the very first day when they met, she asked him if they could use their first names when addressing each other. She was glad that he had promptly agreed. Now, she needed to accomplish the same with the others too.

"I see you're still working on that console. It's been six hours, and except for the periodical shutdown of the gate and Eli's redialing the ship, I don't see any reason for you to be here. I think there are many scientists who could have waited here instead of you."

"Oh, it's no bother at all. I was able to reroute parts of the ship's main operating system to this console so that I can work directly from here, the same as from any other console. From here, I can also talk to Eli from time to time. I think he is bored."

"You're probably right about that. Who wouldn't be bored after spending six hours sitting in front of a gate while doing nothing except watching a glorified vacuum cleaner pumping air into the gate?" Young replied. "So, were you able to learn anything useful about the Destiny?"

"Well, I've learned a lot in these six hours. Although, useful wouldn't be the term I would use. The term I would use instead is… concerning."

"Concerning? Why concerning?"

"Concerning because it appears the Destiny has just finished a three-years-long-journey across the void between distant galaxies, and its energy reserves are nearing depletion. Our dialing the gate, as well as our arrival, has considerably aggravated the situation because the ship had to exit FTL travel three times now."

"What? Wait! Why is that such a problem? We have all the power we can possibly need. We could use the ZPM we brought to power the ship."

"Not at the moment, no. I don't know if there will ever be a moment, but at least until we gain complete control of the ship, trying to connect a ZPM to the ship's main power grid would be incredibly dangerous. At the very least we need to shut down everything for a short period first before connecting a ZPM, and only then we can ascertain that the two systems are fully compatible, which as far as I can tell, they don't seem to be. My kin d didn't invent the potentia until two million years after the launch of the Destiny."

"So, if we can't use the ZPM, what else can we do?" Young asked.

"Nothing," Lora replied simply.

"Nothing?"

"Yes. The best course of action is to do nothing, and leave the ship to do what it always does."

"And that is?"

"To fly into the sun in order to replenish its energy reserves."

"Umm… What are we talking about here exactly?"

"Commander, there is no ship we know of that can hold enough energy reserves to traverse billions of light-years. The only way for a ship to be able to do that is if it has the ability to replenish its energy reserves, and the only thing powerful enough to do that are stars. This ship's underside is filled with energy collectors capable of absorbing massive amounts of energy while the ship is flying close to a yellow star."

"And you're saying that the ship's shields are capable of protecting the ship from the heat?"

"For a short time, yes, they can. All our shields can survive that for a short period. As long as the ship isn't directly hit by coronal plasma ejection, there shouldn't be any problem," Lora ended with a smile.

"You didn't have to tell me this last part. Now am going to worry about coronal ejections."

"No need to worry. The ship's computer is more than capable of predicting such dangerous occurrences ahead of time. After all, the Destiny has done this in every galaxy she visited at least once," Lora explained. "However, there are things we need to work on."

"Such as?" Young asked.

"I was able to identify 137 breaches on the ship of various shapes and sizes, most of them as a result of weapons fire. The Destiny must have crossed paths with some hostiles during her long voyage."

"Yes, I saw a few such breaches myself. One of them is the one in the shuttle."

"There are many breaches much bigger than that one, but for now I would like to start with the smaller ones, hence easier and faster to repair, and then work our way toward the larger and more difficult to fix. The Destiny should have crates with raw materials in them or, if not, we can cannibalize parts of the ship's insides in order to get the needed materials. Then we can use the matter synthesizer to make what we need to close the gaps on the ship's outer hull. It is imperative that we do that because the ship is using the shield in order to seal off breaches and it's straining the already incredibly old shielding system. Not to mention it uses energy that it doesn't need to under normal conditions."

"Are you saying that the shielding system isn't working properly either?"

"Of course it isn't. The ship is millions of years old. The Alterrans who built this ship had placed an enormous amount of redundancy in it, but even with all the precautions, too many of the shield emitters have already burned out and the ship is trying to compensate for it with those nearby that are somehow still working. However, as you saw earlier, the shield was unable to hold the air inside the shuttle. When this ship was new, that would not have been the case, no matter how big the breach was."

"So, our priority is now to seal all the holes on the ship in order to diminish the strain on the ship's shielding system. Anything else we need to worry about?"

"Not at the moment, no. Well, there's no system aboard this ship that is at one hundred percent efficiency, but most of them we can't even attempt to repair until we gain full access. Like the energy capacitors on the ship that are working at only 35% percent of their intended capacity, or the fact that one of the engines doesn't work properly so that the Destiny had to shut that particular unit down or else the ship would have never been able to cross the last stretch of void in order to reach this galaxy."

"It gets better and better, doesn't it?"

"Those are problems that right now we can't deal with so there's no need to worry about them. I can't start sending people to make repairs on the engine or the capacitors when the ship can decide to return into FTL whenever it wants. For that, we need to gain full control first," Lora explained, just as the console in front of her beeped. The air tanks have been filled. She tapped her comm. unit. "Eli, we have fully restored the ship's air reserves. You can stop pumping air and all of you can come back to the ship."

"Alright," Eli's response came over the comm.

The air stopped from being pumped into the gateroom. Moments later, Roberts and Eli stepped through the gate while hauling the glorified vacuum cleaner and the brick that was the Naquadah unit. Lora immediately noticed the strange expression on Eli's face, but she didn't have time to ask what it was when she saw behind them Scott and Greer drag some large animal. By the looks of it, it was some kind of reptile. A very common lifeform in the Universe. Though, her people had never witnessed reptiles evolving into something more than mindless animals only driven by instinct.

"Greer killed an oversized velociraptor," Eli said before anyone else had time to ask anything.

Lora was looking at the dead animal. It hadn't been killed with a rifle. Greer must have used a knife instead, and from the expression on his face, he must have found the exercise endearing. Apparently, the Terrans using last names when addressing others wasn't the only difference between them and her people. If by chance she had stumbled upon such an animal, she would have used a stun gun to incapacitate it and then she would have left it behind to awake at a later time and continue with its life as if their encounter had never happened. Apparently, the Terrans liked hunting, and the use of a knife instead of a rifle suggested that they liked the hunt to be a challenge. At least it seems that Greer certainly did like it. Lora was learning more and more about these Terrans and she wasn't sure if she liked everything she had learned thus far. "Why have you brought this dead animal onboard?"

"I don't know. Maybe we could eat it for dinner," Greer responded while smiling.

She wasn't convinced that this was the real reason. This more looked like Greer showing off what he was able to catch than truly wanting to eat a dinosaur. She was sure that even he knew that the chances of this animal being edible by humans were slim to none. "I do not believe that you would like your body's reaction if you ate that animal."

"I told him that, but he wanted to bring it back onboard anyway," Eli added. "Well, if when checked it turns out that, after all, we can't eat that thing, we can always feed it to the protein re-sequencer and get a lot of protein bars out of it."

The Terran protein re-sequencer was actually a pretty decent invention, Lara thought. The matter synthesizer was capable of making whatever meal you wanted so long as the system had the pattern stored in its internal memory - as well as the dish and fork you'd use to eat it - and it had the right atoms available to be used as raw material. However, it couldn't be said that the very useful device was also a very efficient one. It used a lot of energy to do what it did, even when what it needed to make was nothing more than a simple meal. It was a waste to use it in order to make simple things, especially when onboard a ship with limited resources. Because of it, the Terrans had developed a device that takes any organic matter to make everything the human body would ever need, from carbohydrates, fat, proteins, and with added vitamins and minerals for good measure. The result of that process was what the Terrans were calling protein bars even though there was more to them than just providing proteins. They had everything the body needed in the right amounts. The best part was that the device used very little energy to work, which was ideal for long-term missions when you never knew when your energy reserves would be running low. It was also a much smaller device than the matter synthesizer, which allowed for away teams to bring it with them every time a mission was to last for longer than a couple of days. They could feed it grass or trees and the device would still cram up protein bars and some waste. The only problem she saw was that the resulting protein bar was disgusting. They would keep you alive, but nobody would take one just to have a tasty snack in the middle of the day.

"I still don't see why he had to bring this animal onboard," Lora added while looking at Young.

"I agree," Young replied. "Well, Greer. You brought it on board; it is now your duty to clean up after it. Whatever you do, I don't want to see any trace of it on this ship, smell included. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir," a slightly deflated Greer replied. He turned to Scott, "Help me get this thing to the kitchen."

Scott was already ahead of Greer. He took one of the carts they had brought with them and that was now empty. "Let's use this. I don't want to have to clean all the corridors from here to the kitchen of dino-blood. Not if I can help it."

"Good idea," Greer responded.

Both of them grabbed the animal and lifted it on the cart. Even with the combat suits she knew was giving the two of them additional strength, they still had to put some effort in getting it on the cart. The thing must weigh at least three hundred pounds.

"The poor creature never stood a chance," Eli added as he neared both Lora and the commander.

It was true. Even with the sharp teeth the animal had, it wasn't a match for the combat armor Greer was wearing. This animal could never have hurt him. The best thing the animal could have hoped for was to escape alive somehow. It appeared that at least Eli seemed like a reasonable person. She couldn't imagine Eli going through the jungle while hunting animals for no good reason other than personal pleasure in killing another creature. Well, apparently not all Terrans were the same.

The dead animal was gone, the same as Greer and Scott, which was a relief for her. "Eli, the two of us are going to try to find a way to get us full control of this ship."

"Sure, just give me half an hour to get out of this thing that I'm wearing and to wash up and I'm back," Eli said before storming out of the control room.

"Captain, if it is alright with you, I'm going to instruct the ship that we don't need to retrieve any more air. The ship should return into FTL almost immediately," Lora explained.

"Do it," Young replied.

She tapped on a few buttons, canceling the queued need for collecting air. It was enough for the ship to know that it was time to resume travel. The countdown quickly dropped to just five minutes. The ship was probably giving whoever inputted the change enough time to change it back if it was a mistake. It would be bad if the ship just jumped back into FTL without any warning.

Five minutes passed before she felt the strange sensation when the ship once again entered FTL.

It had been less than a day since they had boarded the Destiny and thus far, everything seemed manageable. It was a miracle the ship was still in one piece after so long. The ship also went through what appears to have been some nasty skirmishes against unknown foes. She wouldn't be able to access the logs until the ship was under their complete control. She was itching to find out everything the ship had gone through in the past several million years since its inception.

It was what she needed to do next. Find a way to get complete access to all of the ship's systems. Afterward, she would know everything there is to know about this ship.

* * *

 _ **Thank you for reading my story. Feel free to leave a review.**_


	5. Nessa Station

**Q &A**

 **Morgauxo: The idea behind the short story was more as a funny way to show the paradox that time travel creates than as something that should be used in mine or anyone else's story. It wasn't to be taken seriously.**

 **Guest: from the beginning, I always tried to make chapters around 10000 words long. However, since quality is something I strive more than in quantity or being inflexible, chapters often come out in different lengths. Also, the first chapter was above 10000 words and the second was close to 9000. together, they would have around 19000 words. This would be far above my usual chapter size. Moreover, the third chapter would then be less than half of that.**

 **trinity: In my story rush became the captain of the Discovery, a science vessel, led by a civilian crew rather than by the military. It is my strong opinion that Rush should remain there and that the escapades of the ship Discovery should not be chronicled in this story. Furthermore, Rush was depicted as too opinionated and confrontational even in situations in which it wasn't warranted. The writers forcefully made him too dislikeable, then at some point, they must have changed their minds and started depicting him in a different light, as for the viewers to start feeling sorry for him or whatnot. In short, I don't like the guy, so I put him on a ship and sent him far, far away.**

 **Rennstag: No, no particular reason. It has been some time since the last time I watched the show. So, I went to the stargate wiki instead and there the only information I could find was that the ship uses stars and that a blue star is at the ship's limits of what it can survive. From that, I didn't get the impression that the ship couldn't dive into a yellow star.**

 _ **Thanks to my beta, and hope you'll enjoy this chapter as well.**_

* * *

It was a sign of the impending apocalypse. Sam was sure of it.

There were _three_ O'Neill standing in front of her, a clear and unmistakable sign that the end was near, and if any old scripture that mentioned the Apocalypse, Ragnarok or whatever other end-of-days calamity but didn't mention this occurrence as a sign of the impending doom should promptly be updated. She was sure that the universe would soon realize that after all three O'Neill cannot exist at the same time - that it is simply too much to bear - and therefore it will simply implode on itself, as the only possible solution. If she spoke this out loud, many would laugh at the thought. However, she was of the opinion that there was some truth in her thinking, as someone from the future had asked one of these O'Neills to save the universe by traveling into the past in order to prevent somebody - or something - called the Shrike from causing a cataclysmic paradox. Too many things were turning around Jack, and there were too many Jacks for that, in her humble opinion.

These three were also very good at arguing with each other, every time when more than one of them was in the same room, she thought, wanting to roll her eyes as a consequence of what she was witnessing.

"Why didn't he get off the ship with you?" Admiral Jack O'Neill, the one five minutes from the future, asked.

"Yeah, you are the Captain. Why didn't you escort _your_ guests to meet us here?" Councilor Jack O'Neill, this universe's original, added.

"Because they were tired from what they went through in the last two months and because I told them to take their time. Something the both of you would have done in my place so don't give me that crap!" J.J. replied briskly. Apparently, he wasn't about to take crap even though he was talking to the highest-ranking member of the entire Terran Space Navy and with the leading member of the Terran Council. Of course, there was also the little problem that they were all the same person, which complicated things, gravely.

"Ah, who cares? They'll come out when they come out. We waited for two long months to see them. We can wait a few more minutes," Admiral Jack O'Neill said. "I'm more interested in your take on how the new Defiant is faring."

"We are here to greet Daniel and Vala and not to talk about the new ship. _However_ , since they are taking their sweet time, please do tell. How's the ship doing?" the other Jack asked, eagerly awaiting a reply.

"You can wait and read everything about it in my report," J.J. replied. He was clearly teasing them, she could sense it clear as day.

"Oh, don't be like that!" Admiral Jack O'Neill replied.

"Read?" Councilor O'Neill questioned, unable to believe what he was hearing, and no less than from the mouth of his clone. "Are you nuts!? Do you know how many reports I already have to read on a daily basis?"

"Yeah, J.J., that one wasn't funny. Not funny at all," Admiral Jack O'Neill added, clearly disappointed in J.J.

"Fine, fine," J.J. began while smiling. "That ship is a beast! I'm not sure who's having more fun aboard that ship, me, the tactical officer while he's playing with the guns, or the pilot while doing some amazing turns. The ship's acceleration is also incredible. Especially for how long the ship can sustain it.

"Please do tell," Admiral Jack O'Neill said, ushering J.J. to continue.

"Yeah, yeah. Tell us," the other O'Neill added.

"Well, at some point the ship was accelerating at 1,290 gees of acceleration. That was when we pushed the engines into the red. But the even more impressive thing was that the ship was able to accelerate at 750 gees for the first five hours while on our way out of the system, with ease and without the need to slow down even by a little!" J.J. explained.

"That's good, very good. After five hours under such an acceleration, at that point, you were traveling at 0.45 the speed of light. Minor relativistic effects must also have been felt," Sam added, positively surprised.

"That's the main reason why we decided to disengage the engines and continue on inertia alone until we were out of the system," J.J. replied. "There was no good reason in accelerating anymore."

"From what we saw, not even one of the Vargas ships can keep up with that kind of acceleration, and certainly not for that long. It is true that they never thought of building ships that need to travel at sublight speed for such long distances. It means that our ships can catch up with theirs even if they are already in the system and on their way to attack some populated planet," Councilor O'Neill added.

"Yeah, we now only need the right tools to beat them once we reach them," Admiral O'Neill joined in, quickly turning towards Sam. "Carter! When are we going to get our new toys? It's not fair that only J.J. got his to play with."

Sam moved closer to the three genetically very similar individuals. Actually, two were identical and only the third one was slightly different. However, in her humble opinion, that small difference wasn't enough to make a tangible distinction in personalities. J.J. had opted to go through the Genesis Project rather than to follow the same path the other two had taken – or rather had been forced to take - in becoming Alterrans. Yet, genetics apart, there were other things that were identical in those three. Most character traits were among those. "I have no idea."

"Seriously?" Admiral Jack asked. Apparently, he didn't expect this kind of answer.

"Very!" Sam added. "Look, there's not much progress being done on the QDBs these days. Maybe we put our scientists in front of an impossible task, I don't know. Maybe we should start thinking of placing the pulse quantum disruptors even on our capital ships instead of something that may never see the light of day. It's better to have something than to have nothing, isn't it?" Sam asked and immediately received the answer, as all three Jacks suddenly looked deflated as if somebody had just killed a dear pet of theirs.

It wasn't easy to come up with new weapon systems that had to give the Alliance an edge against the Vargas. When it comes to shielding, maneuverability of their ships and even the generation of the much-needed energy, the Alliance was ahead of the Vargas by a large margin. Especially now with all the ascended knowledge pouring out from the Clava Thessara Infinitas that was greatly helping them progress even further. They would probably be ahead even in the weapons department if it weren't for the Vargas utilizing a special kind of armor that negated their weapons effectiveness and therefore gave them a massive advantage in battle. In the end, the ratio of Vargas weapons against Alliance shields versus Alliance weapons against Vargas armor was clearly in Vargas' favor and they needed something to change that before going on the offensive or else this war would end up very quickly and very badly for them.

Though currently able to protect their planets with massive minefields and large satellites capable of firing antiproton beams, things would not go as smoothly when on the offensive. Everybody knew that the Alliance could not afford a one-on-one ratio of losses because they all knew the Vargas had many times their numbers in both ships and people needed to operate them. That was the reason why they were researching something many were already referring to as the holy grail among weapons.

One that even the Vargas would eventually learn to fear.

That was of course if they somehow managed to perfect it, because, as the situation was now, they weren't making any noticeable progress whatsoever. Also, it was a well-known fact that telling any of the three O'Neill currently standing in front of her that they were getting smaller and less powerful guns was almost thought of as sacrilege.

Pitchforks and being burned at the stake weren't out of the question either.

"Well, we can give the people working on the problem a little more time before deciding on what to do," Sam replied. She felt sorry for those poor scientists who were working on that specific project. They were constantly being harassed by Admiral O'Neill or if not by him then by the other one, with frequent and unscheduled visits packed with incessant questions about their progress. They had become the terror among all scientists working on the QDBs and many had already asked for a transfer to some other project. One in which none of the O'Neills would ever be interested in.

"Good, Carter. That's the spirit!" Admiral Jack agreed with her decision.

"Hey! Here they come," J.J. shouted as he noticed Daniel, Vala, and Adria coming inside the conference room.

Sam was the first to move and go hug Daniel. "You got us all worried."

"Sorry about that. We had a little snafu with our visit on Quiril. There must be something with that planet that doesn't agree with me," Daniel replied.

"Yeah, Daniel. I told you that adventures, like going on Quiril for example, were off limits for you, didn't I? I think I told you that the first time you went there," Admiral Jack added.

"Yeah, me too. But, the important thing is that you're back and that you'll have many more stories to tell your kids one day on how you spent two entire months on a planet infested by monsters," the other, identical Jack added. He then glanced at Adria. "I hope you didn't make too much trouble for our brand new captain here."

"What did he tell you?" Adria asked a little peeved.

"He told me nothing. On the other hand, your answer just told me everything I needed to know," Councilor O'Neill added before facing J.J. "Was it that bad?"

J.J. gave a glance at Adria before replying. "Nothing to worry about. She was a model passenger."

"How are you feeling?" Sam asked Vala who was standing next to Daniel.

"A very long shower, a delicious meal with desert, a long sleep in my own bed with no interruption, and last but not least, a day the two of us can spend on a shopping spree, and after that I'll be as good as new," Vala replied while counting with her fingers the things she needed to do next in order to get back in top shape.

"Just tell me when and where, and I'll be there," Sam replied. She wasn't surprised at all how little it took Vala to get back on her feet, not after everything she knew Vala has been through, somehow survived it, and was still able to smile. Now, apart from this little incident that needed to be quickly put behind her, her life was much better than it had ever been, and since she was also the first alien who has been accepted as a Terran citizen, she now also had a place where she belonged.

Sam knew that the only thing Vala didn't like about her current life was the obligation to pay taxes. Just the thought of giving a portion of her hard-earned money to somebody else, no matter to whom and no matter how small that portion was, it was still enough to give her hives.

"What about Quiril?" Vala asked. "I mean, the total number of people we saved from that planet if you don't count Daniel and me is exactly _one_. I hope we can do a little better than that."

"Well, we thought about it, and we are not yet sure the extent of help we will send," O'Neill said while pointing with his thumb at the other Jack. "However, I talked with our dear Admiral over here and we have already decided to send an assault carrier or maybe two. Since there are no hostile ships in the system anymore, we think the ship will be great for cleaning up the remaining Hunters and the small Reaper resistance still on the planet. Without a mothership nearby, they are quite dumb so we are not expecting much of a resistance. We only need to place a generator somewhere on the ground and with a strong enough shield around it and the energy emissions will be enough for those reapers to flock all together near it in an attempt to destroy it. At that point, they will be a great target for the assault carrier and its large number of F-302s."

"Yeah, that's the general idea anyway," Admiral Jack continued. "The problem is what comes next."

"You mean the Crabs?" Vala asked.

"They are everywhere and they are multiplying as they eat their prey at an alarming rate. The best we can do is to try to organize survivors and provide them with the little aid the ship is capable of providing. One ship for an entire planet isn't much, but at least against the Crabs alone, the people would have a chance to make defensive positions and to protect themselves. Without the Hunters and the Reapers, the Crabs are pretty dumb and easy to take out with the right tools and with enough people. In a week or maybe even less, after the assault carrier cleans up things a little, we are planning to send more ships. Even one of the new hospital ships under the Terran Peace Corps' (TPC) purview, and of course enough army troops to protect the do-gooders in the TPC," Jack explained.

The Hospital ships were among the largest ships in the Terran Fleet. They were almost four kilometers in length, and much wider than any other type of ship in the Terran arsenal. They were not as difficult to build as other ships were because they were not meant to be used as ships of war, hence the materials and the technology used were far below the standards required to build a ship like a battlecruiser. What these ships were was extremely reliant, low maintenance, no top-secret tech aboard that would lure some unwanted guests like pirates and last but not least, filled with whatever the Terrans thought could help a planet and its population when in trouble. It had been designed to provide relief on a planetary scale in a number of different scenarios, ranging from natural disasters, pandemics or post-invasion situations. There were scores of doctors who could quickly come up with a cure for some disease by analyzing the pathogen and making the cure in any of the many labs aboard the large ship, or they could be sending disaster experts and other volunteers ready to help during some major catastrophe. There were also Army troopers that had been detached to the Peace Corps to provide protection if need. The massive hospital ship also had many dropships of various sizes. Some big enough to land and serve as local hospitals, and if it wasn't enough, they all had large ring platforms to connect with the main hospital ship in orbit. Thus far, the Terrans had managed to build only three such ships, and with the Vargas on a warpath, those were in high demand these days.

Still, now that the Vargas had left the planet and the chances of them returning after they had almost completely succeeded in erasing the planet's population from existence were very small, it was time to do as much as possible to preserve the little life that had somehow managed to survive the holocaust.

"The hospital ships are in pretty big demand these days?" Daniel said. He wasn't in the loop, as he had spent the last two months away from his regular duties.

"The Vargas are not just using other aliens to do their dirty work. There are planets with their population having been infected with some strange pathogen," O'Neill added.

"How do you know it is the Vargas doing?" Daniel asked, again, because he was out of the loop.

"Well, the pathogen is silicon based, and our immune system is ill-suited to fend off an attack from it. We don't even know how to classify it since it exhibits trades predominantly of viruses, but also of bacteria. The only positive side that I can think of is, since it is silicon based, it can't multiply the same as other pathogens usually can. At least not inside our body. We don't have silicon except in trace amounts, which means the pathogen is reproducing exclusively somewhere else where there's silicon present. We think the Vargas are dropping large canisters with some silicon and the pathogen mixed in them. Then the pathogen spreads, probably through the air, and multiplies everywhere where there's silicon present, which as you all know is a very abundant element. It then manages to wreak havoc in any organism it infects, be it animal or plant life," O'Neill concluded his explanation.

"It's not just that it attacks organisms. It also changes them, at least some of them," Sam continued. "Recently, some of our scientists have theorized that, in enough quantities, the pathogen can not only be used as a bioweapon, but also as a terraforming agent. Of course, we are talking about terraforming that's ill-suited for carbon-based lifeforms like us, but rather something more akin to the Vargas. We saw many plants mutating into some hybrid form, half silicon-based, half carbon-based, yet still capable of growing. What the end result of this observed transformation is going to be we still don't know," Sam added. As time passed, more and more information was being gathered in regard to the Vargas bioweapon. After all, it had only been six months since the Vargas came, and they had already learned a great deal.

"So, some planets are attacked by the Vargas minions, like the Crabs, Hunters, and Reapers, while other planets are targeted by this silicon-based pathogen. Why use different methods to achieve the same result, which is the destruction of the human race?" Daniel asked.

"You mean, if you know that one method is better, faster or whatever, why then use another method that takes longer or has some other downside?" Jack asked.

It was a good question, and Sam could clearly see that nobody knew the answer. "Maybe we are looking at it in the wrong way. I think the solution is in the way Daniel has phrased the question."

O'Neill made a strange face as if he wasn't feeling well. Apparently, he was trying to use an organ he didn't use too often. His brain. "Oh, you mean his assumption that the only thing the Vargas want is to clean this galaxy of humans."

Sam thought how, apparently, when he really wants it, Jack can actually use his brain for some impressive and quick reasoning. "Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Maybe they are actually choosing some planets for terraforming and are masking their actions as mere attacks on the human population. After the planets are modified to support silicon-based life, the Vargas have a nice planet they can turn into a base of operation or maybe even a new colony. However, this gives us another inconsistency in our thinking."

"Yeah, like the fact that they are not here just to get rid of us, but also as a secondary goal to expand their territory into this part of the universe. Our galaxy could be just the beginning of taking over the entire Local Group," O'Neill concluded.

"Actually, I think that our assumption that they are here primarily to wipe us out is probably the wrong one," Sam added. "I think that they are here to expand their territory and we are just the nuisance they need to get rid of in order to achieve that objective."

"Okay, as theories go, I think it is possible, but I still don't get why not use the pathogen on all the planets if it accomplishes the same thing?" Daniel added to the conversation.

"We know from experience that not all planets can be terraformed to sustain silicon-based lifeforms. We also know that the process takes a lot of time, like years, which would indicate that trying to terraform a planet with a large human population wouldn't be that easy and it could maybe even last long enough for those living on the planet to find a way to fight the pathogen or receive help from others. If there's a silicon-based pathogen that can terraform a planet that is meant for carbon-based lifeforms, then there should be a carbon-based pathogen that can counter such transformation or maybe even reverse it. I'd also like to categorize the Crabs as a biological weapon, one that's much better at targeting humans and especially effective if aided by the Hunters and Reapers. Those Vargas' allies are also carbon-based, which could indicate that the Vargas need to leave at least some planets unchanged for them," Jack, the Admiral, butted in with his five cents.

"We also noticed that they are cannibals. Do you remember, Daniel?" Vala asked. Seeing Daniel making a small nod while also looking disgusted by it, she continued. "Those that are dead or badly injured are eaten by the others. The result is new ones being spawned again in the next reproductive cycle. It means that even killing them, in the end, accomplishes nothing. Unless we burn the corpses or unless you can kill them all."

"That's strange. I thought that those ugly things eat only their prey and that, after they are done, they simply stop eating altogether. Isn't that how they operate?" J.J. asked.

"There are many theories about them, but the most prominent right now is that the Crabs are getting signals from the Vargas or maybe even Hunters. Among the various signals, we think there must be one that effectively shuts them down. After receipt of said signal, they stop eating and in time die. This theory also agrees with what Vala just told us, as they could easily be cannibals up to the point when the signal is sent, which is only after the planet has been cleansed of whatever the Vargas wanted it to be cleansed of," Sam explain.

"Disgusting!" Admiral Jack added, with his hands up in resignation. "That's all I'm going to say. We fought countless enemies, and all of them had some reason why they wanted to kill us. The Goa'uld sought dominion over all, hence liked to enslave people and kill those that opposed them. The Wraith killed humans while feeding on their only source of food, the Aschen were sociopaths that wanted some real estate others had, and the Ori wanted more people to pray in order to gain more power. Yet, I have no clue why the Vargas are attempting to cleanse this galaxy of all humans. We also know that our galaxy is far from being their only victim. So, what do the Vargas truly want here?"

"That's a very good question. Spreading throughout the known universe and killing everything that's sentient - and doing it possibly for more than a billion years - it seems to me like a very tedious and ungratifying job. It's not like there's not enough space or planets for all of us. There's no way that the Vargas truly need so many planets. Because, if they do, they wouldn't have been subcontracting the job to other races, like the Senari for example," Councilor O'Neill added.

"The Senari were tasked with cleaning their galaxy as well as six others. Yet, the Vargas never came to claim any system in any of them. Why?" J.J. asked.

There was a long pause. Sam could see that all of them were struggling to understand what the big picture was when the Vargas were concerned. This was a group of smart people when they wanted to be, like right about now. Yet, even together, they were no closer in understanding the Vargas and their motivation in waging war after war throughout the entire universe, endlessly and probably pointlessly as well. "I don't think we are going to find the answer. Not today anyway."

"Yeah, I don't think that either," Councilor O'Neill added. "Although, I think that one person may know the answer we are all looking for. Too bad we can't get to him."

"It has been almost three years and there's still been no word from him. I wish there was a way to contact him," Admiral Jack added.

It was true that both Jacks were the ones who had spent a lot of time with Liam, and she could also understand that they were missing him now that he was gone, for almost three years now no less. Sam also agreed with Jack that Liam could possibly be the only person to uncover some new and important piece of information that could shed some light on this whole war they were currently fighting without even knowing why. "I wish Liam was back too."

"Never met the guy!" J.J. added. "Though, the way you talk about him, I guess I wouldn't mind meeting him at some point in my life."

It was a strange feeling for Sam. J.J. had memories of them having spent years in the SGC and yet, he was in his early twenties, fresh out of the academy, and someone who had never met Liam because he had joined the military only recently. She knew he had joined the Terran Space Navy the very same day the battle with the Vargas was made public. Everybody who knew him immediately realized that he would be able to finish the academy on an accelerated course, which lasted a little over a year. The reason why he has already reached the rank of a captain (junior grade) was because he had memories of past experiences as colonel Jack O'Neill, air force, that had greatly helped him, equally as much as because of the TSN need for as many capable officers as it was humanly possible. Junior grade captains were among those to command smaller ships like the Defiant, which meant they needed as many as their academy could cram out. This was a time of fast promotions for those who showed even a little of wisdom and leadership skills after graduation and during their serving aboard ships as ensigns and later as higher-ranking officers after they were promoted.

In the last six months, the Terrans had built many defiant class ships on their colonies, hidden bases in two galaxies and inside the pocket universe. The primary reason why they were building so many was because it was the first ship with systems specifically created to fight the Vargas, but also because they needed a large fleet comprised of fast yet still powerful ships. They also needed ships that didn't require hundreds of qualified officers to be operated as it was the case with ships like the new battlecruiser that had a full complement of 414 people. Instead, as little as eight people in each shift could operate a defiant class ship. Usually, there were three shifts that totaled to a crew of twenty-four. There was also some additional personnel, like a doctor or two for the small med-bay, and the marines that would sometimes but not always be stationed onboard. Usually, one team of marines was more than enough for such a ship. Even with a full crew complement, the ship had thirty people in total, and that only happened on long-term missions like the one J.J. had just been on. For shorter missions, two shifts or even one were enough, granted the ship was back at base in a few days' time at the most.

In the unlikely event of the ship ending up being destroyed, a small crew also meant fewer people lost.

Sam turned and saw that the others had kept talking. As far as she could tell, Jack was now telling J.J. what kind of man Liam was while Daniel, Vala, and Adria were talking among themselves. She turned and looked through the large window in front of her. The sight was magnificent. They were inside a large nebula that spanned for almost a light year in all directions. Here, inside it, sensors were useless unless something was right in front of your nose. It was one of the several hidden bases the Alliance had built in their home galaxy.

In order to reach the station, ships needed to exit hyperspace while already deep inside the nebula because trying to reach it from the edge of the nebula at sublight speed was extremely impractical, as it would take and eternity to do so. Once a ship exited hyperspace at the predefined coordinates, it then needed to broadcast a certain authentication code and wait for the station to pick it up. A response from the station would give the ship the bearing it needed to take in order to find it even though it frequently moved, never spending much time in the same place. The nebula also provided enough screening so that even the strongest sensors, like those they knew the Vargas had, weren't enough to pick up any pattern indicative of something more than just gas being there. The massive size of the nebula also precluded any attempt at trying to search it by simply having ships flying through it.

While inside such large nebulas, the stations were impossible to find, which allowed them to provide an incredibly important role. The Alliance needed a striking force that could quickly react when informed of the enemy movements, yet safe from those wanting them harm. Since all of their star systems now had subspace disrupted, keeping ships inside them meant a massive delay sometimes of days even while they were required to travel from their planets to outside of the inner system on sublight speed before they could engage their hyperdrives only after crossing the hyper limit. Because of it, the Alliance needed hubs, hidden hubs in which ships could dock, resupply, make repairs and eventually wait for when the time for the next strike came.

The stations weren't much. Other ships had brought them here in pieces and then assembled. The stations were cheap crap and if attacked would probably not last very long. On the other hand, what they had was free space, recreation areas, a good medical wing if there were injured, training areas for the military to keep people in good shape, and whatever else the men and women serving in the TSN liked having at times when off duty or while waiting for their next assignment to begin.

In the end, the nebula provided better protection than any shield ever could.

"Carter!" O'Neill shouted.

She turned as if struck by lightning. "What?"

"It is a quite normal occurrence for me do be spacing out - people actually got used to it by now - but when _you_ are starting to space out enough that I need to call you three times before getting an answer, well, then we have a serious problem on our hands," Admiral O'Neill stated, concerned. "What's up with you?"

"I was just thinking how this place is giving a false sense of safety," Sam answered.

"It isn't a false sense, Carter. There's no way-"

"I know that," Sam interrupted. "I'm not saying that here is not safe."

"Then what?" O'Neill asked, confused.

"I'm saying that it makes you feel safe when you're here inside this large nebula, but it is only a dream because you can't stay here forever. Sooner or later, you have to get back out."

"Yeah, it makes sense. It is strange that, ever since the attack on Earth, I can really sense that people who come here are more capable of relaxing as if nothing can ever harm them here, as opposed to when they are back home on Earth or on any of our other colonies," O'Neill explained.

"It is the same thing I sense when talking to people who went to the pocket universe," Sam added. These were probably the only few places where people, with absolute certainty, could say that they won't be attacked.

Sam suddenly remembered something. "By the way, don't you have your monthly meet with Teal'c today?"

"I do, I do, but we changed the meeting place. He's coming here rather than me having to go on Dakara. You know, since Daniel is back and all. We barely made arrangements in time because of this damn new communication system!" O'Neill replied, not too pleased about the last part.

"Not much we can do. We can be happy that we still have a way to communicate at long distances at all," Sam replied. It was true that it was inconvenient to have subspace communications inside systems disrupted by the same device that prevented any ship from entering it while in hyperspace. It meant that communication for example from Earth to Dakara was not possible in real time. The best they had managed was to place subspace relays outside the disrupted zone that would convert any received message into radio signals and send them towards the inner system. It meant that it took hours for the signal to first reach the relay from Earth, and then send the message to the receiving relay near Dakara, and then it took more hours for the once again transmitted radio signal to reach the planet. With the need of having the other side send a response like in this case with Jack and Teal'c who were scheduled to meet, it could easily happen that it took even up to an entire day to exchange any meaningful two-way conversation among distant star systems.

"I know, I know. Still, not having instantaneous travel through the stargate or the ability to communicate in real time through subspace, no matter where you are inside a galaxy, is turning out to be a real pain in the posterior. When there's something we decide back home, it takes several hours for the message to get out of the Solar system and to our assets in the galaxy. That is only if some of our ships aren't in some other star system with the same limitations. Then it takes double that time. I still think that some tech sometimes backfires on you, and for an uncertain amount of anticipated gain."

"You think that this interdiction device the Nox gave us is not giving us any advantage?" Sam asked.

"Sure it does, but thinking that it doesn't hinder us in other _important_ ways would be wrong, very wrong," O'Neill concluded.

It was true that what the Nox had given them wasn't a magic bullet that could solve all of their problems, but she could also imagine in what state the galaxy would be right now if they didn't have it. "Well, I can imagine in my head what would be like if we didn't have this system. First, and foremost, I'm not sure Earth would have survived the attack. In addition, I'm sure that, by now, we would have countless planets burning or with the surface littered with those Crabs, Hunters, Reapers or some silicon-based pathogen. With the way the Vargas have lost most of their initial force in their attempt at taking Earth out, we can be very happy how things are going right now in the whole galaxy. Without too many Vargas around, even the Jaffa, Wraith and other space-faring races are able to fight the much weaker Reapers and Hunters. I'm actually a little mystified on how good things are going for us. I never thought the Vargas would come here with so little."

"Well, the way I see it is that, if they won when they attacked Earth as they were probably planning on, the rest would have fallen much quicker. They also couldn't have anticipated the changes we made in every system and the kind of defenses we now have. Not from what they saw in the Eden system," O'Neill added.

"Still, even that explanation doesn't convince me. Not fully at least," Sam added. There was still something bothering her, but she was having trouble focusing on it. "I mean, as far as we know the Vargas are probably the most numerous race in existence and I'm sure they have the largest fleet anyone can conceive of even being possible. I thought they would have brought more, that's all."

"You are under the impression that everything is going smoothly for the Vargas everywhere else so that they can devote all of their considerable resources to fight only _us_. But, the truth is, the Vargas are probably fighting on many fronts across the universe against what are probably some of the most powerful races there are. Those that were capable of closing the anomalies the Vargas had built and that are capable of providing a strong resistance. As far as we know, we could be very low on the list of enemies they need to worry about the most," O'Neill explained, thinking of something else also. "Of course, there's also another explanation to consider."

"What other explanation?" Sam asked.

"Well, from what I gathered from Aenea, and from what the Ascended had told her the few times they deigned themselves to be seen, the Vargas are probably interested in Liam. Or rather, they are interested in what Liam has become."

"So, you're saying that they are aware that he's not here anymore so they are devoting all of their resources in searching for him elsewhere. You think that the reason they are not here in overwhelming numbers is because Liam isn't here?" Sam asked.

"Exactly. There's also the chance that Liam is making their life miserable. I mean, he has the knowledge and the technology to close anomalies, just as the Asgard did with the hub in the Senari galaxy after he left. That alone can be a massive pain in the posterior if he's closing half of their network as he goes deeper into their territory, and with his ability to shift into a dimension in which even the Ascended cannot see or touch him, it means that he can slip anywhere he wants. I'm also a hundred percent certain that he is engaging in some pretty nasty acts of guerilla warfare everywhere he gets a chance. He's probably spreading those nanites that are freeing people from the neural interface that has enslaved them, like with the Senari, everywhere there's a race in need. Can you imagine the Vargas suddenly losing anomaly after anomaly and races revolting against them in droves because the nanites suddenly turned them against them? From the very beginning, we knew that the Vargas could not possibly control so much real estate without taking control of other races who would then do their bidding."

"When you put it like that, maybe the Vargas are not all that focused on us in the first place. They just sent one barge to see if they can get lucky and knock us out quickly, but they are actually not all that focused on us right now," Sam explained.

"Exactly. Also, the fact that Liam is probably rallying races to fight the Vargas, is also worrying them more than anything we can ever do, which, if we think about it, isn't much, is it?" Jack said, a little pissed.

"What do you mean?" Sam asked, unsure what the problem suddenly was.

"I mean that we are doing nothing while Liam is sticking his neck out for us. We can't even clean our own galaxy of the little the Vargas sent our way while we should be out there helping _him_ ," Jack explained, not too happy.

"And as you know, we agreed that everything we are doing right now is in preparation for when we _will_ have the last few techs we need in order to make the Vargas bleed and regret the day they ever met us. That's the moment when we go on a full offensive, here in the Milky Way galaxy and out there whenever we can hurt the Vargas. You know how many capital ships we have already built and are ready except for a few systems that are still not installed on them. They are all in the pocket universe waiting to get the last pieces before setting sail. You also know that the Edenians are preparing as if they are going on a holy crusade, burning everything in their path until they are reunited with Liam again.

"And don't get me started with the Asgard. Since they have found indications that sixteen thousand years ago the Vargas had visited this region of space and, in addition to modifying the Goa'uld, have put a virus in the Asgard system that messed with their genome during the cloning process, they are probably the ones the Vargas must be wary of the most. Most of the firepower of all three races is just waiting for the last few touches before being unleashed." Almost everything in the Clava Thessara Infinitas' massive infrastructure was devoted to building powerful ships of war, but they weren't yet complete. Rows and rows of ships built by all of the three races were only waiting for the last few missing pieces. In addition, the shipyards in what they were starting to call, the Argos system, were something that could only have come from a science fiction novel. Argos had managed to create incredibly precise time dilation fields that allowed the, for the most part, automated shipyards to build ships at a much faster rate, without actually affecting the people working there or the communication with the rest of the system. Those shipyards were cramming out ship after ship at five times the normal speed and there were no delays since the ascended had filled the pocket universe with so much of the various and very precious materials that there was no need to bring anything from the outside. It was just a matter of developing less than half a dozen more technologies that would be incorporated into their most advanced ships currently waiting lifelessly in the Argos system, and they were good to go on a rampage like mad dogs. "By the way, I forgot to tell you that the long range missiles are ready for production."

"You mean those capable of… how much?" O'Neill asked.

"They are capable of reaching a target even thirty million kilometers in the distance while traveling at sublight speed and with an acceleration of approximately 15 000 gees," Sam replied, hearing Jack whistle. With the environment inside star systems having changed, battles needed to change as well. These missiles had an incredible acceleration and endurance. They were also useful only if the opponent didn't have the ability to escape into hyperspace because to travel up to thirty million kilometers, is still took time, even with the acceleration these missiles were capable of achieving. In truth, these missiles could hit an enemy at even greater distances if they went ballistic and traveled on inertia until nearing the enemy before re-engaging the engines for the final approach phase. However, the chances of missing a target increased drastically at such distances if the target began evasive actions.

"With those, we could be able to add another layer to our planetary defenses. Not sure how we could use them offensively, though."

"Not sure either," Sam added. The problem was that these missiles were not small by any standard and they weren't meant to be used aboard their ships. The missiles would be fired from specifically designed platforms that were not meant to be moved. Those would be placed inside a system and wouldn't move at all. "Maybe we should come up with some barges of our own capable of moving a large number of these missiles. This way, once we know the Vargas have entered a star system we come with a lot of these and we target them while they are still traveling through the system while unable to enter hyperspace. With the missiles' range, we could be able to hurt the Vargas before they can reach any inhabited system."

"That would also be the missing piece, wouldn't it?" "O'Neill added.

"What missing piece?"

"Well, the interdiction device is slowing down the Vargas and preventing them from using some blitzkrieg tactic where they quickly knock out a planet and leave the next minute for the next one in line. However, the only thing this accomplishing is to slow them down. In the end, the Vargas are still able to reach a planet and burn everything on it before we can come and help them because we are under the same restrictions as they are once we enter a system. These missiles could be the first step in finding a way to reach the targeted star system and to destroy the Vargas before it is too late," O'Neill said.

"Maybe, but I'm not sure if these missiles are going to be enough. If all of them had those nasty space-time displacement warheads inside, then yes, we could obliterate an entire Vargas fleet no matter how big, in no time. The problem is that we can't produce so many of them since all of them become worthless in less than six months and they are so delicate that they can't be transported through a stargate or come out from the pocket universe. During the transition process from the pocket universe or during the dematerialization inside a stargate, the warheads become inert. It also takes a lot of time to make them and it can only be done in special laboratories capable of creating tri-cobalt while under an incredibly strong time dilation field.

"If instead, we use conventional antimatter warheads, it takes a massive number of them to knock out a Vargas fleet, especially knowing how good their point defense systems are. In Eden, we witnessed that only one or maybe two percent of the missiles fired were able to reach them and that was when we fired more than fifteen thousand missiles at once!"

"You're right about that, which means the solution to our problem is to somehow prevent those point defense system from taking out so many or, if not, to find some other type of warhead better suited to damage their ships than how much an antimatter warhead is capable of. What about making quantum disruptor torpedoes (QDTs)? That thing would hurt them if it hits, of that I'm certain," O'Neill explained his thought. The whole point of making quantum disruptor weapons was the Vargas threat. For everybody else, the good old plasma beams were more than good enough.

"You're right. That would probably dematerialize their hull regardless of their energy dispersive properties, unlike if antimatter was used. Some scientists have already suggested making those as what would probably be among the most destructive warheads after the infamous space-time displacement warhead. However, we are already having trouble creating the much expected QDBs," Sam said while glancing at the person who was pressing the most to have them. "Making QDTs could possibly be an even greater challenge to make since there's not much space to be used inside a missile for the warhead to fit in. This also doesn't help us solve the problem of their point defense system."

"No, it doesn't. Well, we are fighting a very advanced race that spans across the entire universe. If we manage to find a way to fight their armor, I think we should be grateful we were able to accomplish that much. Everything else, we should think of it as a bonus," O'Neill concluded while glancing at his watch and quickly getting up. "Teal'c should be here any minute now. I better go wait for him."

"Well, if we at the R&D come up with something, I'll let you know," Sam replied while Jack was already getting on his way.

"You do that!" Jack said as he gave a tap on Daniel's shoulder while giving him the signal to follow him.

* * *

"Teal'c!" Admiral Jack O'Neill shouted as he saw his friend get off the docked ship. "Over here!"

As he saw them, Teal'c walked in their direction. "Daniel Jackson, I am glad to see you are well. When were you rescued?"

"Just a few days ago," Jackson replied. "We were taken from Quiril straight here."

"I am glad. Many among the Jaffa were preoccupied when we learned of your misfortune during your visit on Quiril. If it were not for so many of the Vargas ships in orbit, we…" Teal'c stopped, feeling anger rise.

"I know Teal'c, and I appreciate it. However, with so many Vargas ships in orbit, a rescue attempt for two people would have put possibly thousands in mortal danger."

"Yeah, let's move to the conference room so we can discuss this while sitting down, shall we?" Jack butted in.

The walk to the conference room was short and mostly spent in idle conversation. Once inside, Jack, Teal'c, and Daniel quickly sat around the large table in the middle of the room. Jack took the remote control and used it to light the holo-display in the middle of the table. It had already been preset to show the map of the Milky Way galaxy. The map was showing the Jaffa planets in yellow, the Terran holdings in Blue and many smaller regions colored in some other way that represented other human and nonhuman races. There were also many planets colored in red, which were those that had been targeted by the Vargas and their minions.

"So, we can see here on the map that the situation didn't change much from last month. The Vargas are still progressing at a steady pace, just as they have done for the past six months," Jack said.

"Well, it is a big difference to me since I've missed the last two meetings. It seems to me that at least twenty planets have fallen in these last three months," Daniel added. He clearly didn't like what he was seeing.

"Actually, it is twenty-two to be more precise, and yes, we don't like it either," Jack responded.

"The problem are the Vargas and partly the Reapers," Teal'c added. To others, Teal'c would seem very calm. To Jack, he looked rather pissed at the moment. "Planets with a smaller population and little in term of technology are exclusively targeted by Hunters and those spawned Crab-like creatures. The early warning system has helped us on many occasions to reach those planets before it was too late, and even though sometimes difficult, we managed to win against Hunter ships and the Crabs on the ground."

"The same is with our fast response task forces in most engagements. However, due to our need to keep a large presence in our own systems in order to safeguard them against sudden attacks by the Vargas and because of the constant increase of the Reapers, our forces are getting spread very thin. Soon, many more ships like J.J.'s Defiant will complete their trial runs and then we think we will have enough to face the Reapers. At least for a time, that is," Jack added, ending on a more somber note.

"Why do you say, at least for a time?" Daniel asked. He had heard of the increase in production of the defiant class ships, so he wasn't sure what the problem was.

"We have stopped production of almost any other type of ship in order to, in time, build a thousand Defiant class fast attack ships, and now that many are ending their trial periods, we will have our planned fast response units operating even with a fraction of the people usually needed for so many ships. We needed to do this mostly as a response to the Reapers threat, but also as a testing platform for new systems. In this case, it was the stealth system and pulse quantum disruptors that needed a testing platform the most, just like the heavy cruiser had served to test other improvements a few years back during the Cylon-Colonial war.

"However, now it's finally time to restart building larger ships, those that need to be more powerful than an equivalent Vargas ship. In this phase, the R&D under Sam and production under Paul will be stretched very thin. We need to finish developing the last few technologies that are going to give us a decisive edge against the Vargas. We also need to build a considerable number of our capital ships that will go against them, both here in the Milky Way and later whenever we need to go in order to end this war," Jack explained, actually losing the point he was trying to make.

"Okay, this all seems reasonable," Daniel added. "You are leaving the finalizing of the most complex ships for last when you have all or most of the research done and tested on smaller ships. This still doesn't answer my question, though."

"The problem is that, while we are done with producing more Defiants and while there won't be any new capital ship coming out of our shipyards for quite some time, the Reapers will continue growing exponentially. One becomes two, two becomes four, four into eight, and so on and so on. In a year or two, we will have those damn Reapers everywhere."

"Are those Reapers so difficult to take down?" Daniel asked.

"Not at all," Teal'c responded. "We have analyzed all our battles fought against them as well as having analyzed the wreckages of all types of Reaper fighters. They are mostly made of steel hardened with a mesh made of carbon nanotubes. They are very easy to make, but also made of very weak components. The smallest, those mostly used inside a planet to chase down any detected source of energy can be taken down with a few well-placed shots from a Death Glider. Also, with the improvements done to our fast firing plasma cannons on our larger ships, we are able to take them down very quickly. A medium size Reaper is a little tougher, but it can still be destroyed with even the weaker cannons on our Ha'tak or even Al'kesh if enough fire is poured. Only a heavy Reaper can pose a serious threat as only they have the firepower to, in time and if in enough numbers, overpower the shields of a vessel like a Ha'tak. The problem is that no matter how many we destroy, more and more are coming. Soon, the time our ships spend in shipyards in order to repair any accumulated damage or on resupply runs will be greater than the time ships spend in combat. Our inability to go on the offensive because we do not know where they are being built precludes any chance of hurting them where it counts."

"What Teal'c just said is correct and the second part is even worse than the first. We don't know where they are and how many motherships are currently being built. The most advanced feature of those motherships is the same stealth system the Vargas use while traveling through hyperspace. We have no way of knowing where they are or what their next target will be.

"We are still working on the Vargas ships we captured at the Battle of Eden, and with a little more time I know we can duplicate the same stealth technology that should allow even our ships to use it even at full speed. However, finding a way to track them, well, that's a big no-go on that one," Jack added, knowing that the reason it took them so much time to inspect the Vargas ship was the damage done by the STD torpedoes to their control crystals. It was a mess piecing things back together.

"Why not?" Daniel added. There had been so many changes in the last few months that it was unbelievable. "Is their system so good?"

"Well, our stealth system, or rather the stealth system Liam developed is also good. It is unbeatable since it is able to completely negate any subspace noise the hyperdrive makes during travel. There is no way to detect his ship while it's under stealth since there isn't any noise to be detected in the first place. The only problem is that, in order to work properly, his ship needs to move at a fraction of its top speed. The Vargas system does the same thing. The difference is that it is capable of doing what it does even while traveling at full speed. As much as I understand it from what Sam told me, it is all about a lot of mathematical equations, optimized code for light speed fast calculations, and by having a very fast computer that is capable of quickly doing the calculations in order to generate the identical noise in subspace with an opposite amplitude of what the hyperdrive creates. So that the two cancel each other out. It is incredibly difficult since the onboard computer core is already strained trying to calculate hyperspatial coordinates during travel in order to prevent the hyperspace tunnel from collapsing, resulting in the ship being tossed back into - _WHAT?_ " Jack stopped abruptly as he saw both Teal'c and Daniel's confused faces.

"Nothing," Daniel began. "It's just that you're using a lot of big words, that's all."

"I concur," Teal'c added. "Words that in the past you have tried to evade whenever possible."

Jack wasn't sure on how to respond. He had been caught red-handed. "Well, as it happens, I got fed up of not understanding anything in any conversation that involved science of any kind, so I started to go through the repository of knowledge Liam left me. Plus, I have an eidetic memory now, which gives me the opposite problem than before. Now I have trouble forgetting things that I would very much like to forget. Having a lot of stuff Sam or somebody else mentioned without understanding, well, I must say that it is pretty frustrating."

"That's commendable, Jack. Could you then go through the repository again and get me some more stuff about the Alterran history?" Daniel asked.

Jack knew the very same day when Liam had blurted out for everybody to hear that he had access to the Alterran repository of knowledge, he knew that was the day he had become the box's extension for anyone who wanted to learn something from it. This wasn't the first time either, since the last time Daniel asked him for the same thing he had collected and copied at least ten very big books about the Alterran early days while still in their home galaxy. "Daniel, you have ten very thick books copied on that crystal I gave you, with very few pictures in them and a lot of very tiny letters instead. I think that's enough for a while, don't you?"

"I already read them," Daniel replied, simply.

"When? I gave you those just the day before you went on Quiril?" Jack asked.

"Well, I read them on Quiril."

"Wait, wait. Let me get this straight," Jack began, taking a big breath. He could not believe what he'd just heard. "Are you telling me that you used the limited amount of energy in your suit to power its holo-display so that you can read about something the Alterrans had done more than twenty million years ago?"

"Oh, it isn't such a big deal. The suit would have maybe lasted half a day longer if I didn't. It isn't that much of a change and it isn't like I didn't have time to spare over there," Daniel responded.

Jack was now angry. "Daniel, that's beside the point! That half day of energy could have been a lifesaver, yes, but the bigger issue here is that you used energy for something completely unimportant while the planet had many Reapers on it. Reapers that could have easily homed on the energy being emitted and blasted both you and Vala to heaven!"

"Uh, I guess it didn't cross my mind. We were lucky then, I guess," Daniel replied, feeling repentant.

"Let's get back to our previous discussion before I lose it!" Jack was fuming inside. "Where were we?"

Teal'c picked up. "We were discussing our inability to track down the Reapers. As far as I understand what you last said, you do not believe you will be able to devise the means to track their ships while they travel through hyperspace."

"No, I don't think we will, which leaves us with no solution to the Reaper problem, except maybe for one," Jack said. Seeing the expecting looks from both Daniel and Teal'c, he continued. "Well, the best way to fight crappy ships in great numbers is to build crappy defenses in even greater numbers."

"Explain," Teal'c said, left eyebrow raised.

"We are working on developing some low tech, easy to build satellites, yet still strong enough to face the Reapers on a one-on-one basis. We still need to work out a few kinks, though. Primarily, both the Terrans and the Jaffa need to be able to build them, and to build them easy, fast and cheap. This means they should be made of some cheap crap material like steel, which can readily be made on any planet. We then make their armor as tough and thick as it can be so that they can survive longer than the Reapers can. Their weight also isn't a problem since they are satellites, not meant to move much except to reposition in planetary orbit.

"Second, they need to have a longer range than the reapers. I think that if we succeed in that we are on the right track if the satellites are always capable of drawing blood first. Third, the satellites need to have a way to self-repair minor damage at the very least. If not, we are in trouble concerning maintenance and this whole plan goes down the crapper. We should then place as many of them as we can inside as many systems as we can so that when the reapers show up they get a nasty surprise. We would still need to send a task force, just to be on the safe side, but I think the satellites could help a lot in destroying or if not in damaging and delaying any hostile force."

"It sounds interesting, and it should help," Teal'c added, but there was a ' _but'_ coming. "However, this again is not _the_ solution to our problems."

Jack sighed. "No, it is not. In the end, the Reapers are multiplying exponentially, and if we don't find a way to track them and destroy them, and soon, we predict that we will be overrun in two years' time. Even without the Vargas or the Hunters, much less if more barges come knocking at our doorsteps. This brings us to the second problem. We still have no way to face the Vargas and win without losing a lot of ships." In theory, this was the problem of the Alliance and not of the Jaffa since it had been decided that the Jaffa should leave the dealing with the Vargas to them while focusing more on fighting the Hunters and Reapers. Still, a few Jaffa worlds have fallen recently at the hand of the Vargas and the Terrans were constantly pushing the date when they'll have what it takes to go on the offensive.

"If the Terrans do not find a viable weapon to face the Vargas soon, we should all think of an alternative strategy. Even one that involves removing most of the ships guarding our planets and going on the offensive with a much larger fleet," Teal'c added.

It wasn't anything new. This was the same idea they had discussed in the last two meetings. However, there were a few big problems there. Point 1, the Vargas are aware of their strength and the number of ships and planets under their control. On too many occasions have they detected Vargas scouts lurking at the edge of their systems where their colonies were. Point 2, as far as they knew, the Vargas only have two hundred ships left in the Milky Way galaxy, which could be a deception. The moment they remove their ships guarding their planets to go on the offensive, the Vargas could come out of hiding and get a shot at them. Also, removing movable units, the only units capable of intercepting an enemy, while leaving the defense of a system to stationary defenses - such as satellites or minefields - it was never a good idea. You always need a way to intercept an opponent or else you pass the initiative completely into their hands. Point 3, the Vargas won't be fooled as they had been in the Battle of Earth six months ago. Also, who's to say that they didn't come up with a new strategy or some weapon they haven't seen yet after that debacle. After all, the barge was so big that it could easily have everything they could possibly need to build whatever weapon they want, right here in the Milky Way galaxy.

The last point and the most important one was that the Federal Parliament and the Council were against any kind of offensive action that could result in both, great losses to their fleet or a possible counterstrike by the Vargas. Unexpectedly for Jack, both the Edenians and the Asgard agreed with that decision. He thought they would be against it and maybe even force the issue of going to protect other planets at all cost. However, that wasn't the case here. Their explanation was simply that if a reckless action, thinking foolishly that the enemy is incapable of harming them in any way, results in the loss of a planet or a large number of assets, it could preclude any chance of victory against an enemy as powerful as the Vargas. In short, even the smallest wrong step could potentially mean the death of them all.

"I hear you T, but you know where the Alliance stands. All races are firm that we need to have something that gives us an edge against the Vargas before we do anything rash. Up until the Vargas threat, all enemies we faced had some kind of shortcoming. Overconfidence, weaker technology, internal strife, being egomaniacs like the Goa'uld or something similar. There was always something that in the end gave us the needed edge in order to win. And not just win, but win without sustaining massive losses. With the Vargas, there's no such weakness to be found. Their technology is different, but far from inferior. They are maybe a little overconfident but in any case, they have a good reason to at least be confident that they are more numerous than we are. There's no disagreement inside their ranks and they are not egomaniacal either. The closest to the Vargas as an enemy were the Replicators but even they had a few massive flaws. The first one was the signal the Asgard were able to use to gather all of them in one place and the second was the weapon I was able to create with the Ancient knowledge and the one on Dakara. The Vargas, as far as I can tell, have no such flaw, which means that we are in trouble."

"I agree. From everything I have seen and heard, the Vargas are the ultimate enemy, and we should be grateful that more did not come. However, what I know is that if we do not take this fight to them, the only possible outcome is our eventual defeat. At some point, we will have to risk it or, if we are not ready to do so, we have already lost this war," Teal'c replied with conviction.

"I hear you T, and I agree. In the end, we need to strike back and push them out of the Milky Way galaxy. It is the only solution. However, there are a few technologies we are working on that will give us an incredible edge over the Vargas. I tell you what, if we have nothing in three more months I'll do whatever I can to persuade the Council and the rest of the Alliance that it is time to strike back. But Teal'c, I am not going to go against the Alliance's decision, even if the Terran Council agrees. Among the four races in the Alliance, the Terrans are the most hotheaded and the ones that like taking action rather than to wait. Usually, that is something I like better - it usually gets the job done quicker - but when the Vargas are concerned, I'd rather like to err on the side of caution."

"Very well, O'Neill. Three more months for your scientists to find the magic bullet, as I hear you so often say. It would be better if in these three months we were able to at least find a way to fight the Reapers." Teal'c said, taking a deep breath.

Jack knew that Teal'c was worried. The Terrans had given the Jaffa several antiproton beam satellites and zat-mines to protect their planets, but it was barely enough to protect a few of the larger ones like Dakara and Chulak. The problem with the Jaffa was that they were spread on so many planets, some with as little as a few tens of thousands of inhabitants on them. There was no way anyone could place such assets to protect those sparsely populated planets and call it an efficient distribution of resources. There were also those who were trying to force the Jaffa to relocate their people, but it was a struggle met with anger and distrust. Not just the people, but several members of the council were also against it. They were still thinking in terms of conquest, unwilling to relinquish a planet under their control. It was moronic since nobody would take those planets away from the Jaffa even if every last soul left them to go elsewhere. Yet, the idea of completely evacuating a planet was to some members of the Jaffa Council also a sign of weakness and of retreat in the face of danger.

It was a sign of cowardice for them.

Jack sighed again. There wasn't much he could do to change the way the Jaffa felt. "I have people working on the reaper problem. Maybe we'll find something on the Hunter ship we captured in Quiril's orbit."

"You captured one of their ships?" Teal'c asked.

It was true. It was difficult to even imagine being able to capture a Hunter, much less one of their ships. They always fought until the very end, and they were prepared to kill themselves rather than being captured. Many thought the Hunter hated captivity on a genetic level, more so than any other species encountered, including humans.

"Yeah, well, as far as I hear how it went, Adria needed to release some of the frustration she accumulated during those two months spent aboard J.J.'s Defiant. That's why she decided to board their ship with a team of marines in tow. J.J. tells me the marines were pretty shaken up when they came back, and he wasn't referring to what they saw the Hunters do. He was referring to what they saw _her_ do to the Hunters," Jack explained, before turning to face Daniel. He didn't like the fact that Liam, the one who was keeping an eye on Adria, wasn't there. "You know that's now your job, right? To keep that woman happy and docile at all cost."

"Don't know why you are so worried about her. In these three years, she's been a model of good behavior. She has also been incredibly helpful in giving us knowledge that only she possesses or that besides her only Liam could possibly understand. The many ZPM factories we now have in the proximity of various black holes is clear indication of that fact."

"Yeah, she's great and a real model of virtue. Until she isn't. It is easy to be a good person when everything is fine. The problem is what happens when not everything is fine, like in these last two months while you were stranded on Quiril. I was actually glad when she agreed to go on the Defiant and wait in the Quiril system because some people were starting to be afraid of her. You know how people are when you are facing somebody who can kill you with a single thought, and pissed at the entire universe because she doesn't know if her mother or you are even alive."

"Well, that's more a problem of those people than hers, wouldn't you agree?" Daniel added while smiling.

He got him there, for the most part. "I'm not sure if I agree with you. Societies don't function like that, I'm afraid. However, since I'm not in the mood to go into yet another discussion on some ideologies how people should or shouldn't behave inside a society, why don't we call the others and then all go get us some beers? After all, we should start celebrating your and Vala's safe return and leave grim topics like war for some other day."

"I'm all for it. I haven't had a beer in two months, and technically am still on Medical Leave, so I'm not working anyway," Daniel replied.

"I agree that a celebration is in order, and I am prepared to join you," Teal'c added.

There was something fishy there; Jack could smell it. Teal'c had decided to join them, which per se wasn't very strange, but his response was too quick. "Is there a meeting of your Council waiting for you on Dakara by any chance?"

It took Teal'c a moment before he replied. "O'Neill, you said we were not to discuss grim topics anymore, did you not?"

"You're right. I'm glad you're joining us for drinks and let's leave it at that," Jack said, smiling. "Well, let's then find some more comfortable accommodations in the recreational area before we call the others."

Both Teal'c and Daniel nodded in agreement. Together, they got up and went out of the conference room. It was now time to celebrate Daniel and Vala's return and leave the war, the Vargas, the Reapers and whatever else that troubled them to discuss on a later day.

* * *

 **Classified as top secret (Level 9)**

To think that the celebration had started so innocuously, JJ thought.

When he came in the recreational area as instructed, he had found the other two O'Neills, Teal'c, Sam, Adria and the reason why they were celebrating Daniel and Vala seated around a low table in some very comfortable-looking armchairs in one corner of the large recreation area that all on the station used to unwind after a hard day of work. He sat in an empty armchair, immediately noticing the beer waiting for him. It wasn't strange that they knew even the brand of beer he liked to drink. One glance at the other two O'Neills holding the same brand in their hands was enough to know.

Conversation among each other began, stories reminiscing old missions were told, there was laughter, as well as other emotions depending on the recollected experiences. All in all, it was a fun night to spend with people you like and haven't seen in a long time.

Then, things started to change.

A captain and a few other people that he knew approached them. They were all in a good mood as the captain just found out that he had become a father. Cigars were given to all, new drinks were ordered to replace the empty ones, and the night continued in earnest enjoyment. Soon, it wasn't just their table but four or five adjacent ones were filled with people celebrating. It wasn't strange either since their table was comprised of some well-known people in the Navy and government. The fact that Daniel and Vala have been rescued after two months contributed for even more people, as a bare minimum, to come and say how glad they were the both of them had been rescued. Vala was also enjoying the celebration, often spending time talking to people on other tables and inviting more people to join.

The surprises were not over yet, as a column of new people - sailors, fighter pilots, and marines - came through the door and in the recreational area. It was immediately apparent that they were in a good disposition. The truth soon came out. The heavy cruiser _Respite_ and the rest of its battle group - comprised of five more Defiants and two assault carriers - had just docked after a mission that had liberated another world under siege by the hunters and reapers. It was yet another reason for more drinks to be ordered and for more people to join their little corner of the recreational area, which at this point wasn't so little anymore by anyone's standards.

The celebration, which was at this point a mixture of several, was, as one would expect, cheerfully developing and rising in intensity, with only one little snafu some one hour later. Suddenly, drinks began drying out. The station was expecting a new shipment that was due the next day, and nobody had planned for so many people to be so thirsty the day before. However, salvation came quickly as it was apparent that the dissatisfaction present in so many could cause some serious problems.

A device resembling a breathalyzer was created and the drunkest marine was brought for testing. The very advanced Asgard sensors inside the device collected information from the marine's breath, information that the very advanced Asgard Core effortlessly analyzed - extrapolating the distinct types of alcoholic beverages the marine at various points during the night had drank, all nine of them - only to be sent to the very advanced Asgard matter synthesizer that began cramming out new drinks. This was the first time somebody mentioned that this night should be classified as top secret, as nobody wanted the Asgard to learn in what way the Terrans were using their technology during their spare time.

Soon, everything became a blur of events and sensations, ones very difficult to recall afterward.

 **Aftermath**

JJ woke up in the same armchair he'd spent most of last night's celebration. However, for some to him unknown reason, he was shirtless now and his pants were all wet. He quickly learned the probable cause of his pants' dampness as he saw the pool in the middle of the recreational area he was sure wasn't there yesterday. It even had a slide on one side. There was also an abysmal number of balloons of various sizes and colors everywhere he looked, as well as a pretty large cage like those seen in fighting sports, with two passed out marines still inside. Not that they were the only ones passed out, as many people in various stages of undressing littered the floor of the large recreational area. This could be the reason for the reinstatement of the Mark I medical nanites for military personnel, those that made people incapable of getting inebriated, as opposed to the Mark II that had been created explicitly because of the many complaints received by the men and women in the military.

Another good reason why this whole night should be classified as top secret, at the highest levels. The energy bill for this month's usage of the matter synthesizer was also going to be a bitch to explain.

JJ slowly rose. Not one of his party members were here. Apparently, they'd been smart enough to disappear before things last night got too bad. It was time for him to skedaddle as well before someone who didn't participate in last night's celebrations came inside and started asking questions. Questions only he could answer since he was the only one awake. He began his trek towards the exit, barely in time noticing what appeared to have been some nasty projectile vomiting on the floor in front of him worthy of the movie _The Exorcist_. He quickly evaded that particular obstacle as well as three unconscious people who, for some at this point unknown reason, were wearing spacesuits, just with their helmets taken off. Not wanting to ponder on it for too long, he proceeded further, now more than ever wanting to be elsewhere.

He really needed to leave, and fast.

 _ **From the ship's log of Captain Chandler, of the Battlecruiser Bellerophon**_

 _During my long career, first as an officer in the United States Navy and later in the Terran Space Navy, I've seen many strange things floating around in the sea and in space. However, what I saw today was a first for me. Upon approach to the space station Nessa, the sensor officer detected three strange objects floating just outside the station. First thought to be some kind of debris and nothing more, further investigation proved this assumption wrong. The three beamed-aboard objects were nothing more - or less - than three small tricycles, with what appeared to be thrusters attached to the sides of the two small rear wheels. However, this wasn't the only strange thing. Whoever built these, designed the thrusters to fire when the front wheel, the one attached to the pedals, turned. The faster the wheel turned, the stronger the resulting thrust was._

 _After the inspection, only one question remained in the captain's mind._

 _Who won the race?_

 _*** Later classified as top secret ***_

* * *

 _ **Well, I hope you liked this pretty long chapter. I must admit, it took some time to write. Feel free to leave a review.**_


	6. Progress - Part I

_**Author's note:** Well, this chapter won't be the last I'll publish, but I am burning through what I already wrote faster than writing new chapters. So, it is possible that soon I'll have to slow down a little with my publishing. Just as a warning to prepare you. _

_**Q &A:**_

 _ **Trinity:** the replicators are an old plot line and there's no need to revive them. Besides, the Asgard would probably leave the Alliance on the mere mention of using the accursed machines. Not to mention the Vargas could have fought something similar and have a way to win or maybe corrupt them. In short, not a good idea. And yes, they are smarter here, or rather here there's no IOA._

 _ **random norvegian:** the descendants only existed because they dialed the gate to go back home while recharging inside a star. This was the incident that sent them into the past on a planet in the same galaxy. Since this event didn't happen, and won't happen, there are no descendants in this galaxy, which btw is a different galaxy the one in the show. The Destiny traveled three more years. Me describing a ship with 'him' is probably from the first book. The reason is because in my language all nouns have a specified gender, and you can now easily guess which gender a ship is in my language. Later I learned to watch for it and to use 'it' or 'her' if the person speaking felt more attached to a particular ship._

 _It could. Unfortunately, the millions of Mark III combat armor had been built and spread to the troops. No way the Mark IV can replace the Mark III in the book. Just think that the Mark IV will be a complete redesign of it. Unfortunately, it will be used only if I'm about to write a fourth book._

 _Just a passing comment. If genetics were involved with the Terrans quickly developing weapons, then all human races in the Milky Way galaxy would have the same genes since they were taken from Earth as slave less than ten thousand years ago. Evolution doesn't work that fast._

 _Funny you ask since this chapter deals with the Furling Legacy._

 _Never played Eve Online so I'm unable to oblige, sorry. I'm also of the opinion that - contrary to popular belief - size matters, but only to a point. There is no plausible reason to build a ship that would have a volume (and hence mass as well) equaling 1000 dreadnoughts! 10 times longer X 10 times higher X 10 times wider gives you 1000 times bigger volume than a dreadnought. And volume and mass are closely connected. I would rather have a thousand dreadnought than one 20km long that uses the same amount of raw materials. The only reason for introducing such a big ship would be if there's a component, usually a weapon that necessitates such a big ship. Even the barge I introduced, have a specific role, which is to cross vast distances as carriers of entire fleets. However, such ship is not meant to fight as it would have several negative attributes. Like awful maneuverability because of its size and relatively small amount of space for weapons since space is used to carry other ships. From out own history, we know that building something that is good at everything ends up being good at nothing._

 ** _Paul R:_** _Well, this and then chapter 8 will give you a few clues in regard to Liam. But just a clue, not more. :D_

 ** _Well, thanks to my beta and hope you'll enjoy this latest chapter._**

* * *

It was an amazing site. One he had never seen before, and for a good reason.

Only now that he was aboard the Destiny he was able to marvel at the universe in such a wondrous way while using this strange way of FTL travel. The view in the observation deck had an incredibly calming effect, something he was in great need after the voyage the ship had taken near a yellow star. The ship had been in desperate need of power and solar energy was the only source available to replenish its reserves. Young hadn't been certain if the ship could survive the process involved. After all, the Destiny was a several-million-years-old ship, so it wasn't strange that he had some doubts.

As it turned out, and thankfully, his fears were unfounded.

It was amazing to think that more than ten million years ago after the Alterrans had reached the Milky Way galaxy – a voyage that in itself took a thousand years to complete - they were already able to build unmanned ships capable of surviving such a long journey. Even more amazing was that they were capable of practically flying into a star in order to replenish their vast energy reserves. It wasn't strange that other races were calling them the Ancients, as even back then they were among the most advanced races in the known universe.

Even though what the Ancients had built was a marvel of technology, the ship had too many years under its belt and had gone through some rough times. That is if the holes in the hull were indicative of that fact. Someone must have played some nasty games with the ship, and he really wanted to know who and more importantly for what reason they had done so. There was a lot he didn't know about the Destiny, but he was certain that an automated ship built by the Ancients would have never attacked somebody without provocation. Moreover, he was certain that even if attacked first, even in that eventuality the ship would have tried to avoid engaging rather than resolving to return fire.

Therefore, the burning question was - _why was somebody trying to destroy the ship?_

The next important dilemma was - _had they just happened to be in the same place where the ship had just happened to exit FTL or had those aliens, whoever they might have been, have a way of tracking the ship?_ The first assumption didn't sit well with him. He simply didn't believe in coincidences. If his reasoning was correct, then it meant that the second option was the correct one. It meant that somebody was tracking the ship, somehow.

Young heard steps coming from behind. He turned to see who it was. "Oh, is it already time for our meeting?"

"It is," Lora answered, taking a seat next to him on the bench.

"How are the repairs proceeding?" Young asked. Thus far, Lora and her army of scientists and engineers had worked diligently to keep the ship from breaking apart, and this was yet another progress report on how well the ship's repairs were coming along.

"All breaches have been patched up except for the large one in the domed structure. Even though it is the largest hole, even without repairing that particular one, the shield is now under much, much less stress. Soon, we can start working on replacing any burned-out shield emitter in order to restore the level of redundancy the ship had a long time ago when it was still new."

"Are you going to install a new type of shield emitters, like those we have on our current ships?" Young asked.

"No, that wouldn't be a good idea. The ship is still under the control of the main computer, and the last thing we need is to confuse it with components it doesn't recognize or that work differently than the current ones. We could end up doing more harm than good. For now, I think our priority should be to restore this ship to its original specifications. Then, once we gain full control of it, we can think of how to improve various systems, if needed of course."

"All right, it is your area of expertise; therefore, your call to make," Young replied. "What I'm interested in right now is if you were able to access the ship's logs. More specifically, information pertinent to the damage sustained. Did you have some luck with that?"

"I did. I will send you all the relevant data I was able to gather thus far. I had time to access only the last few thousand logs until now, so I don't know everything the ship went through prior to the last few galaxies these last logs recorded. It appears that there's an alien race that is chasing the Destiny for quite some time now, and they are responsible for some but not all of the damage. What they want from the ship, I don't know, but there is a clear pattern. In most instances, the ship simply went back into FTL as soon as the aliens appeared, though a few times the ship was in dire need of resupplying, which the aliens readily took advantage of. That's when the ship sustained most of the damage. I can't say if I understand what the aliens are trying to achieve, and I'm no military expert by anyone's standards, but it seems to me as if maybe the aliens want to damage the ship just enough to prevent it from returning into FTL. I think they are trying to board it."

"Wait! Are you saying that these aliens are chasing the Destiny even across galaxies?"

"Yes, they are. I don't know if their domain spans through that many galaxies, but my guess is that only a small group of a few ships is included in this chase. If this was their domain, they could have easily sent more ships at once. Enough even for the Destiny to be unable to escape before sustaining crippling damage."

"It makes sense. Still, Destiny just spent three years traveling between galaxies without stopping even once. What did the aliens do in these three years? And why would they force themselves to participate in such a long chase just for a ten million years old, automated ship?"

"This ship contains a precursor chair that was used as a repository of knowledge. To our current standards, this is old technology and its content is outdated, but maybe to these aliens it is invaluable," Lora replied.

"Even we didn't know what this ship has onboard until we board it. How would the aliens know that the ship has a repository of knowledge onboard?"

"Maybe they didn't. Maybe they simply assumed that there must be something of great value onboard," Lora responded. "Or maybe they were just bored in their own galaxy and have jumped at the opportunity of chasing a strange ship that travels through the universe on autopilot. Who knows? After all, they are aliens and we have no way to assess how they think. This precludes us from forming any theory on their way of reasoning, one that has a higher probability of being correct than what simple guessing has."

"You're right about that," Young replied, thoughtfully. "We know nothing about how these aliens think. However, from what you just told me, I don't think they'll stop chasing the ship anytime soon."

"I agree, which is a problem. The moment we gain complete control of the ship, I was hoping we could stop and make repairs to the energy capacitors and the engines. However, I can't start working on them if there's a chance of an attack. The ship needs to be on minimal power if we are to work on repairing these particular systems," Lora explained.

"I don't like the idea of being defenseless either. I was also thinking that our current defenses are inadequate," Young added yet another reason why at the moment facing dangerous enemies is a bad idea.

"Why do you believe our defenses are inadequate?" Lora asked.

"It is true that we have gained control of the plasma turrets and the main weapon, but the effectiveness of the main weapon is far below optimal," Young began explaining. "One of your scientists just told me that it could cause a critical overload to use it at more than 30 percent of its full strength, and that is not the worst part either. From the configuration of the ship, it can easily be determined that an enemy vessel can slip behind it with relative ease and fire at the aft section with impunity. The Destiny doesn't have the maneuverability our warships back home have, which means that for the Destiny the only way to face an enemy positioned astern, is to flee by entering FTL."

"You must understand Commander that the Destiny was never intended to be a ship of war, and yes, the best way to evade an enemy with her is and it will probably always be to enter FTL."

"I understand, and I'm not trying to compare the Destiny with our warships either. I'm simply stating the facts as I see them. At the moment, we can rely only on the turrets, and we have no complete coverage with them." Young replied. They have now patched up the ship and are in the process of replacing the shield emitters that had burned out. This will increase the ship's defensive capabilities by a non-negligible margin. Yet, its offensive capabilities were still woefully inadequate, in his considered opinion. "What can you tell me about the shuttles?"

"One shuttle is in flying conditions. The other needs work done. It appears the shuttle received a strong blast in the forward section while under Destiny's shield that still managed to cause some serious damage. We have replaced the window, meaning that the craft is airtight again, but the front console has some burned-out circuits that need to be replaced."

"Let's say that you can make it spaceworthy again. In which case, could you make them capable of protecting Destiny's rear when under attack?" Young asked. He wasn't thinking of creating true warships, he knew that would be too difficult to do on a simple space shuttle that was more than ten million years old. What he wanted was to have two craft that could run interference until the Destiny turns to face the enemy with its weapons. Even a 60-degree change in course could be enough for the plasma turrets to swing just enough to fire at whoever was glued astern. A little more and the main guns could come into play as well.

"We can repair the second shuttle, but I don't know what we can do to make them capable of fighting a capital ship. Those shuttles don't even have a shield capable of protecting them against such a strong opponent."

"Well, then, could we maybe give them one?" Young asked.

"I suppose we could place a shield generator and emitters on them, but the onboard power won't keep them powered for long. It was never meant to power something so energy intensive as a shield is."

"What if we place a dozen of our Naquadah units to feed the shield generator directly?"

"That could work. Ten of those units and a dedicated high energy capacitor should be enough for a shield meant for such a small vessel," Lora answered, thinking of the viability of the plan.

"What about weapons? And maneuverability?" Young asked.

"Well, we know now a lot more about weapons than we knew ten million years ago. We could replace them with more modern plasma cannons. It should give them more strength and a greater rate of fire. For maneuverability, we could tweak the inertial dampeners a little and install new and more powerful thrusters. We should then install a better controlling system for the pilot…"

Young understood that Lora was now fully immersed in the planning phase of a new and exciting project. As much as he didn't plan to have the Destiny seek other aliens and get into fights with them, it was very plausible that they could encounter a few of them no matter if they wanted it or not, and when that happened, he wanted to be as prepared as he could possibly be.

"…but the problem is that most of the changes can only be done from the outside. It means the ship needs to exit FTL and lower the shield before people can go outside and start working on the shuttles."

"So, you are saying that all of it can be done but that it is risky, just as with the other repairs that also require the ship to exit FTL. It seems to me that we will have to risk it. We should work on whatever we can while in FTL and get everything as ready as possible so that the final repairs are done as quickly as possible for when we are going to exit FTL."

"I think we can do everything at the same time. We have enough people for it. The most time consuming are the repairs on the energy capacitors. Much more time than the engine or the shuttles will take, at least that's the part that needs to be done on the outside or while stationary."

"I agree. I also think that those are all things that we must do. Another request, though. Is it possible for at least one shuttle to have a hyperdrive installed?"

"Well, we are a little low on the rare elements used in hyperdrives, but I think we should have enough to build one small prototype and install it in the rear compartment of the shuttle. That also reminds me. We should start thinking about sending people through the gate on missions of exploration and if necessary to gather raw materials."

"How are we going to make the Destiny wait for them? I mean, extracting materials isn't something that you can do in a few hours."

"I was thinking more in terms of sending teams far ahead and let them spend weeks or even months working on the planet while the Destiny travels towards them."

"I thought the distance between gates placed on planets and Destiny can't be that large."

"Given enough power, the Destiny can even dial Earth. Therefore, there are no restrictions in contacting another gate _from_ the Destiny whatsoever. The problem is the gates on the other side that don't have any extra power source like the DHDs in the Milky Way or Pegasus galaxy. Because of it, these gates are capable of contacting Destiny only if the ship is close, relatively speaking that is. Nevertheless, for sending people ahead of our current position, that part is easy to do. Then, once we get near, we pick them up with whatever they were able to collect. In addition, I would like several teams to travel from gate to gate and explore this galaxy a little. I know that our mission is not that of exploration, but being in such a distant galaxy is an opportunity that won't repeat itself very often. We definitely shouldn't squander it."

"I agree," Young answered.

"You do?" Lora replied, clearly taken aback by the prompt reply.

"Yes, I think we should find a planet with the materials we need but also suitable enough for the team or teams we send to be able to live on it for a longer period. I also agree that, if it is possible at all, we should have a few teams traveling to other worlds and see what's out there. Who knows? Maybe they get lucky and meet some new race or something else as exciting as that. I think it's better than sitting on our laurels onboard the Destiny anyway," Young explained his point of view, suddenly remembering something. "We still don't know why the ascended wanted us here in the first place, though, do we?"

"No, we don't," Lora replied. "However, I'm certain they must have had a good reason for telling us to come here."

"Ah, yes. The mysterious and on most days of the week very puzzling and somewhat annoying ways of the ascended that rarely explain what they truly mean or want. How could we ever live without that?" Young added, with sarcasm dripping out of him with each word spoken.

He only hoped that, at some point in the future, they would find out the real reason for them having to come here. He also hoped that that particular future would come in a relatively reasonable amount of time. After all, he wasn't a very patient man.

* * *

While lying in bed, Soren meekly opened his left eye. His face was burrowed deep in his pillow, barely allowing one eye to peek at the room. The room wasn't big. It was just large enough to accommodate a bed and a few personal belongings, uncaringly put here and there on the floor. There was also a weak light coming from the illumination on the walls. Enough to see, yet not too strong to prevent him from sleeping soundly.

He sighed. It was time to get up, again. Oh, how he wished that his Alterran body would let him sleep more than four hours a day, the usual amount of sleep needed for his kind. That way the days would be more bearable than how they were feeling right now.

Once upon a time, he thought fondly of the mission he had embarked on. It was the time just after Liam had turned him into an Alterran, almost five years ago. He was the first Edenian to receive such a great gift, which had given Soren a great sense of accomplishment, for he knew that he wouldn't have received it if undeserved. He had then been tasked with the very important mission of leading an expedition far, far from home into uncharted territory in order to find the Furling or anything related to them that they might have left behind and that could help the SGA in their fight against the Vargas. There was no doubt in his mind that the success of this mission was of the utmost importance and that failure could possibly mean the alliance losing the war against what, with each passing day, appeared more and more to be an unbeatable opponent. Happy for the confidence Liam had given him, he went on this long-term mission with renewed vigor, determined to return home with a positive outcome.

Soren rose from his bed, dragging himself towards the bathroom. As he entered, the lights flickered automatically, as they always did. He was sure the lights will continue to come up on their own many more times after this one time, the same as he will as well wake up day after day, countless more times and slowly walk to the bathroom in order to wash his face.

Soren neared the sink. The mirror above was reflecting his face. He sighed, thinking how his uncut beard and hair were making him look like a homeless person. It had been seven months ago, when, in a moment of great frustration, he decided that he wasn't going to shave anymore until the very day when something in this hellhole changed. The day when something of some importance did finally happen on this accursed Sphere the Furling had left behind. Since he was now seven months due for a good shave, it wasn't difficult to realize how nothing whatsoever had happened in all of that time. It had been a pathetic attempt on his part to challenge the universe itself. An attempt to impose his will so that the universe would reply by finally giving back meaning to his existence. Meaning that he had lost in the last three years. Years spent doing nothing but waiting for something to happen in this accursed place. Day after day waking up only to wait for the moment when it was time to go back to sleep, only for the process to repeat itself endlessly each day.

As if the universe cared if he shaved or not.

All this time he had spent on the Sphere, waiting and then waiting a lot more, all for the moment when they finally had the Key in their grasp. The Key needed to activate the very important, yet still unmoving and completely dormant Sphere so that he could complete the mission and finally go home. The worst part of these last few years had been that he had to spend them alone, with people coming only from time to time and for only a few days at the most before leaving him alone once again. Of course, the reason why he had spent all this time alone was because he was the only Alterran on this mission, hence, the only one to whom the doors in this massive construct would ever open when stepped in front of them. Not to mention the only one to whom any other system would even acknowledge his existence for that matter. It was the reason why there was no point in having anyone else on the Sphere since, without him being constantly glued to them, they couldn't even move to the next room. They could become stuck in a corridor or a bathroom, with not even the lights reacting to them. There was no reason for anyone to stay in such a place under such conditions, yet somebody needed to stay onboard for the remote possibility of something important finally happening. Maybe the Sphere suddenly deciding to activate, or to give them more access than what they currently had, which was only to access a small portion of a mostly unimportant library, with nothing that was even remotely related to the Sphere, its operating system or any clue on how to find the missing piece, the Key that was only mentioned in some old scroll where it was stated that it actually did not exist.

Whatever that meant.

He really needed to shave, but he swore that he wouldn't do it until the very day when something different from the usual crap he had suffered for so long finally happened. It didn't have to be something mind blowing like suddenly finding the long-sought Key with the ability to activate the Sphere fully in order to leave this accursed galaxy he hated so much, even though he wouldn't mind that one happening one bit. No, he knew the chances of something so glorious and mind-blowing happening was astronomically small. He would be happy even with something much, much smaller.

Anything would do.

Soren sighed. He then proceeded to wash his face and brush his teeth. He then dragged himself back in the other room and slowly put some pants on. It was the extent of dressing he was prepared to do for yet another boring day in which nothing worthy of mentioning would happen. At least today was the day when one of their cruisers was coming. At least today, he would have a chance to speak with another sentient being. It was now time to move to the hangar bay where he would await their arrival. He had no choice since the only way to allow a ship that didn't have any Alterran onboard inside the Sphere was to activate the hangar's massive outer doors manually, which could only be done by an Alterran and only from the hangar bay.

As he walked, the corridor illuminated and the doors parted ways as he approached. Why did the Furling make this Sphere react only to an Alterran? Why didn't they anticipate the need to override such behavior so that not only him, but maybe others could remain on the Sphere as well, if for no other reason than to at least keep him company? Why did the Furling hate him so much? They had the ability of foresight. They should have been able to anticipate that he would have to spend almost three years alone and with nothing to do other than wait for something that will probably never happen.

For how much longer would he have to keep his beard the way it was now?

The procedure was simple. There was a panel in the hangar bay near the main doors, and he only needed to input a sequence of four symbols on it in order to open the outer doors. He did that, and now he only needed to wait.

It had taken fifteen minutes before he began hearing the sound of the cruiser's thrusters after it passed the force field that held air from venting in the emptiness of cold space. It took ten more for the ship to land and for people and some supplies to be beamed just outside of it.

 _Finally, someone to talk._

Walking briskly, Soren reached the approaching men. "Loral."

"Soren," Loral replied while giving him a measuring look. "I see you haven't shaved yet."

"Has something happened that would make me want to shave?" Soren replied.

"No, nothing worth mentioning."

"Well, somehow I was certain your answer would be like that," Soren replied, a little deflated. If nothing new happened on the sphere, there could at least be changes somewhere else in the galaxy. Apparently, there were no changes anywhere else either. "What about the other races in the galaxy?" He was fishing for something. Anything would do.

"A few skirmishes here and there between what's left of the Alliance and the Senarians, but no major engagements that could possibly shift the situation in anyone's favor," Loral replied.

Soren was already inputting another code on the same panel that was meant to close the hangar bay doors. He then stepped near the doors that obediently reacted to his presence. The other people that were present except for Loral took the cue and began walking through the door while carrying the supplies they brought. Soren and Loral followed behind them. "So, the galaxy is still in a state of a stalemate, with us playing as nothing more than uncaring spectators. Almost as depressing as my life on board this sphere."

"It has been a little under three years since the last time anyone came near Cydonia. The show of force in which the Alliance led by the N'Gati lost more than two-thirds of their invasion fleet against our defenses inside the system was a strong enough deterrent for anyone with similar ideas to back down quickly. The Senarians must also be rejoicing that we are out of the war, which means they have no intentions of risking us suddenly changing our minds by them sticking their nose near our system and accidentally provoking an incident. Three years ago, the Senarians were in a difficult position. We didn't know that the Senarians were at a breaking point back then. It is funny to think that if the N'Gati hadn't betrayed us, or if the other races had sided with us instead of with them, this war would have ended a long time ago. However, us leaving the alliance has given the Senarians the much-needed breathing room to recuperate. Now it is difficult to know who's going to win this war, or if there even will be a winner at all for that matter."

"Hmm, I agree. Three more months and the Senarians would have capitulated. Still, after the N'Gati betrayed us and the rest of the races sided with them, I had no intention of continuing to fight and risk our people's lives for them," Soren replied, sighing. He needed once again to remind himself how the Alterran did things, not to make the same mistake twice. It usually took many years before the Alterrans made any kind of Alliance with another race. Only after thoroughly having vetted all the candidates, then and only then would they begin to contemplate the possibility of joining a war that wasn't theirs to fight, to begin with. He made a mistake in this galaxy. He should have stayed hidden and worry only about their mission, which was to find the Furling Legacy and not to meddle in the affairs of the locals. They were planning to leave this galaxy in any case and getting involved, as it turned out, with very treacherous people never amounts to anything good. "Any news from back home?"

"They established a connection two days ago. We quickly exchanged data packages in the ninety milliseconds the connection stayed open. We were able to send all of our reports and receive some news from back home, but nothing of great importance."

"So, the war against the Vargas still continues in the Milky Way galaxy, while our people are cooped up inside the pocket universe the ascended Alterrans made a long time ago," Soren replied, more to himself than to anyone else.

"For the most part, yes," Loral replied nevertheless. "They are still trying to develop some weapon the Terrans think will completely turn the tide of the war in their favor."

"I read the reports from last time where there was mention of their intentions to build such a weapon. The theory is sound, but I think the Terrans are underestimating how much time it will take to develop it, if even possible. Such projects usually last for decades, with very little progress being made in the first few years."

"Still, you must admit that if they succeed…"

"I know, I know. If they succeed, then they have created the ultimate energy weapon. Frankly, am scared of such a weapon even existing. I'm even more scared of the thought of the Terrans, a race that is still very much divided on their own planet, owning such a weapon. Finally, I'm practically panicking at the thought of such a weapon being stolen by some of the other races in the Milky Way galaxy. If developed, larger versions of the same could easily be constructed. Versions that could break apart entire planets or even stars at a subatomic level. As if having created those accursed space-time displacement torpedoes wasn't enough. I'm actually glad that they can't be mass produced and that they become inert after six months. If fallen into the wrong hands, they stop working and become useless."

"The Terrans ingenuity in building advanced weaponry is one of the main reasons why we were able to win against many enemies without incurring crippling losses," Loral replied, clearly playing devil's advocate.

"There is that to think about too, yes," Soren replied absentmindedly while entering the main chamber where the hologram of a Furling had first appeared. He knew that the people on Eden should be thanking the Terrans. In no small part, they were responsible for the Vargas losing at the Battle of Eden, both in space and on the ground. Still, he couldn't shake the feeling that the weapons they were creating were something that should never exist. The knowledge the Alterran possessed was incredibly vast, yet they never devoted much time developing energy weapons. The development of the drones was the pinnacle of Alterran weaponry, and the weapon was well received by their people because it could be used for disabling an opponent rather than outright blowing them up. Energy weapons could rarely be used in the same fashion. If you used high yield energy weapons as the ones they now had, it was for one purpose only, and that was to destroy what was in front of you. "Still, I think the instability of the Terran society is of great concern."

"Instability?" Loral asked, unsure. "Liam worked hard to place the right people in charge of the Terran Federation. Why do you think there's instability?"

"You just said it, didn't you? Liam had to work hard – emphasis on hard – to put the right people in charge, which means that in the future the situation can easily change. The problem is that their society has people who are prepared to help other races in the galaxy completely selflessly, like those currently in charge of the Terran Federation, but also many others who aren't like-minded, but who seek power and a leadership position above all. With the next elections, the situation can easily turn because Earth still has many who don't care about anyone besides themselves. This is the biggest difference between the Terrans the way they are now, and a society like the Alterrans, Nox or Asgard. Electing someone else among any of those three races wouldn't change their overall policy by much because every member of their society has strong moral values, a rational mind and vast knowledge about the universe, which means they all have similar convictions that are difficult to shake. These are the factors that assure only minute changes can occur in their policy when a new leadership is selected. The situation on Earth is different. New elections could bring smallminded, irrational, uneducated, amoral and also very selfish people to lead a race that has weaponry capable of erasing star systems from the galactic map."

"Is this really about the Terrans, or are you just venting your frustration for being cooped up inside this sphere for so long and with no one to talk to?" Loral inquired.

Soren could not deny Loral's accusations so easily. "True. There could be some frustration at work here. However, that doesn't mean that my concerns are unfounded."

Beside Soren and only a meter away was the place where the hologram of a Furling had first appeared. Now, it appeared it was time for the hologram to pop out once more after so long.

" _Warning… warning… long range sensors have detected a high-level hyperspace event,"_ the hologram spoke at the same time as the dimmed lights in the room began rising in intensity.

"What the f…" Soren spoke while looking at the room that was suddenly coming back to life all around him. There was still the question of clarifying what the hologram exactly meant by high-level hyperspace event. He reasoned it probably meant a ship from an advanced race was the cause. "How high was the detected level you spoke of?"

" _The sensors detected what appears to have been a hyperspace window opening from the Kappa band," the hologram reported._

" _Kappa band? Are you kidding? What could possibly have been traveling through the Kappa band?"_

" _Warning. Warning. The construct is initiating protocol Omega as specified by Creators before departure."_

This was getting better and better, and it seemed that the hologram wasn't about to give much information freely and without them having to place further inquiries."Specify protocol Omega please."

" _Current action is to bring Singularity reactor to full power. The current level is 30%... 34%... 37%..."_

"Translate that power output in joules per second," Soren asked, curious.

" _Current power generation is 2.3x10^24 joules per second."_

"Holy cow! That's power generation on par with that of a small star. For what possible purpose would we ever need such a power output? Where is the power going?"

" _Such power output is needed to charge quantum flux capacitors before ignition of the construct's wormhole drive. Capacitors will reach the needed amount of stored energy in 22 minutes and twelve seconds. The stored energy will allow the wormhole drive to translate the construct for the needed 12.982 light years in order to reach the detected high-level hyperspace disruption."_

"What is the reason for wanting to reach it?"

" _A reason wasn't specified by creators. Only actions needed to be taken once the event was recorded by the sensors."_

"Oh, that's just great? It's going to be another in a long line of great surprises from the Furling. Well, we are at least moving… Crap! Something new has happened!" Soren stated, promptly turning towards a taciturn Loral. "We have some time before this thing moves. I'll walk you to your ship so that you can inform them to strap into their chairs. I have no clue how bumpy this ride is going to be. We are going to block every door we pass through with some boxes so that you can come back without me having to wait for you."

"All right. What are you going to do in the meantime?"

"Well, I'm going to go shave first," Soren replied with a joyful grin plastered on his face. "Then I'm coming back here so I can ask this hologram here a few more questions. This whole thing seems to have been predestined to happen and the Furling knew about it."

* * *

Soren was moving back to the room where the hologram was located. He had shaved and even managed to clip his hair, all in record time. Now dressed in acceptable clothing – clothing appropriate for a normal person with goals in life - he was prepared for everything that awaited them when in less than five minutes the Sphere would move. To his knowledge, for the first time in eons.

Entering the room where the hologram was, he immediately noticed that Loral was back with a few more people. Apparently, he had decided that this was the best place to be when the action started, and he probably thought that bringing a few more people in case the construct magnanimously decided to grant them some modicum of access to its systems.

"How long?" Soren asked.

Loral turned to face him. "The hologram just informed us that we have three more minutes."

"Can't believe that we are finally moving. Can't believe that this thing has a wormhole drive either," Soren said, puzzled. Even to the Alterrans wormhole technology was something impractical to use, if not outright forbidden.

"I do not know how the technology works. All I know is that it is supposed to be an instantaneous method of travel, but that for some reason it was never used by the Alterrans," Loral said.

"It is not just for some small reason. It was because the technology is inherently dangerous. Essentially, you're gambling every time you use it."

"I do not understand. Didn't the Terrans find a race in the Milky Way galaxy that is using an instantaneous method of travel as their only means of traveling at FTL speeds akin to this one?"

"Well, it is true, yes, and I believe that their method is, if not identical, very similar to the wormhole drive theory the Alterrans had worked on a long time ago. The only difference that can possibly exist is in the method of initiating the initial connection between two points in space. After that, both technologies can do only one thing, which is to tear a hole in space and translate to the other side by making a sudden, infinitesimal shift through the tear. However, this is not the problem with the technology. The Colonials the Terrans have met are using their jump drives to cross up to a hundred light-years distances at a time, which, frankly, are laughable distances if you take into account today's hyperdrives and how much a ship using one can cross quickly and more importantly much more safely. No, the reason why the technology is dangerous is because, with the increase in distances, there is also an increase in the uncertainty of what awaits you on the other side. Not to mention an increase in the standard deviation of the calculated exit point. When large distances are involved, a ship could, both, miss the target by possibly even light-years, or even if you're right on the spot, there's still no guarantee there isn't some other object waiting for you there. There's no sensor capable of telling you what's in space hundreds of thousands of light-years away. All this means that you're gambling your life and the lives of everyone aboard every time you use such a device for travel, hoping that indeed space is so empty that the chances of bumping into something solid are infinitesimally small."

"So, why would then the Furling put such a device on this sphere? If it is so dangerous?" Loral asked, clearly not liking what he had just heard. Especially since they were all going to use said dangerous method of travel in mere minutes.

"I only have conjectures at this point. The first, and the one that I like the least, is that they didn't have a choice. This sphere is the size of a moon, which means opening a hyperspace window that size and moving such mass inside hyperspace can't be easy. Then there's the question of how much can this sphere accelerate in hyperspace and even worse, how dangerous it is to use a massive hyperdrive on a construct such as this one that has a singularity in it that is creating a massive gravitational distortion. All this makes me think that in this case, a hyperdrive could be more dangerous than a wormhole drive. Another option is to use a warp drive, which is probably the safest method there is for a sphere of this size. Yet, that method falls short when it comes to speed. With such a drive, it would take years at the very least to cross the void between two adjacent galaxies no more than a few million years apart. The sphere would then be useless in the war against the Vargas where the goal must be to have a platform capable of traveling half across the galaxy and be able to attack at the heart of the Vargas."

"So, essentially, what you are saying is that this construct has a drive that is dangerous to be used, but since there no other way, the Furling decided that it was worth it, is that it?"

"Maybe," Soren replied, thoughtful. "As I've said, these are only conjectures with no concrete data to back any of it. There could be that the Furling have found some way to overcome the inherent hazard when jumping longer distances, like when you're jumping to other galaxies. Just because I can't think of any way they could have done it, doesn't mean they didn't succeed in creating something the Alterrans couldn't."

" _Warning… warning… charging of the quantum flux capacitors has been completed. Wormhole drive is now entering its ignition phase…"_

Soren could feel a slight tremor going through the sphere, indicative that something big was happening. "This is amazing. Frankly, I thought the vibrations coming from a drive capable of moving a moon-sized ship would be much worse. This must be a great piece of engineering. As expected from the Furling."

The vibrations were now a little more pronounced as if they were meant from the very beginning to inform the people to brace themselves.

" _Warning… warning… Wormhole drive has now entered its final phase. The drive will engage in 8… 7… 6… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… engaging."_

It felt weird. It wasn't the same as when you jumped off a cliff, yet, there was no closer way to describe what Soren felt at that moment. And a moment was exactly how much it took the sphere to change location. "Is it over?"

" _Construct has traveled the distance of 12.987 light years, with an error of .01 kilometers in the planned exit point. Short range sensors are now able to detect the cause of the detected high-level hyperspace event, currently located 2,980 kilometers from our current position," the hologram explained._

"Can you display the cause so that we can see it?" Soren asked.

In thin air, next to the hologram, a large display two meters wide sprang to life. Soren intently watched what it was displaying. Slowly but surely, his eyes grew larger and larger in utter disbelief. Not very distant from the sphere, a ship floated lifelessly while spinning awkwardly on one of its axes. The fear Soren suddenly felt was because he could easily recognize the ship. It was a ship three kilometers in length, pitch black and he knew it was one of a kind. Liam had built that ship so many thousands of years ago for himself, even before the Edenian race was born.

And the fear he was feeling was caused by the sight of the damaged hull. Countless holes, with some parts of the ship, large parts, completely torn off and missing. The display was also showing preliminary information gathered from the scans the sphere had done. Soren caught the data showing the ship had no power left except for minute amounts in the backups. There was no detectable life support throughout the entirety of the ship either.

The ship was lifeless and cold, as the void of space itself.

"Oh, crap!" Soren said, not knowing how else to describe this moment. "From the data that I'm seeing on the display, there are no life signs."

"There's no mistake. That _is_ Liam's ship," Loral added.

"Warning… Warning. The scanning has detected the presence of the sought key component. The construct will now begin retrieval," the hologram notified, still very much sounding like a machine.

"Wait? What?" Soren was getting more information he wasn't prepared to process yet. He was still stuck at the revelation that Liam's ship had been turned into Swiss cheese.

"Could this key component be the _Key_ that we are missing?" Loral asked.

Soren turned to face his colleague, uncertain. "You mean… the Key that doesn't _exist? That_ Key?"

"Well, whatever it is on board Liam's ship that this thing is seeking, it definitely didn't exist when the Furling built the sphere so long ago," Loral explained.

"You might be right," Soren replied, thoughtfully. On the display, he noticed some beams coming from the Sphere and grabbing Liam's ship and steadying it in place so that it wouldn't spin, before slowly beginning to pull it closer. "Hologram, can you tell us what the key component is."

"You do not have the authorization to know until integration process is completed."

"Great! Thus, we are still stuck with no access to any of the systems. How long is the integration process going to take?" Soren asked, hoping that it wouldn't take a few more years of his life and that once it was done they would finally get some answers.

" _Integration process will take approximately 6 days and 22 hours to complete._ "

Soren turned to face Loral. "Seven more days it seems. Hopefully, after that, we will get some real answers?"

"At the moment, I'm more curious about the whereabouts of Liam. I think the Sphere's scanners wouldn't miss his life signs if he were aboard that ship," Loral added, his face clearly showing how worried he was.

"No, the sphere was able to detect my presence as an Alterran when we first came with a short scan. There's no chance it would miss another Alterran presence," Soren agreed. "Which begs the questions, where is Liam and who could do this to his ship?"

"We watched the recording of what Liam had done at the Battle of Eden. Thinking that somebody could do this to him and his ship is frightening. But then again, we are fighting a frightening enemy, aren't we?"

"That we are. I'm also intrigued how the various pieces of this puzzle are slowly coming together. All this can only be possible because of the Furling's ability to see into the distant future. To think that they built the Sphere in the same galaxy where Liam's ship somehow manages to travel through the Kappa band until it completely exhausted all of its energy reserves. Only somebody capable of predicting the future far in advance could have done it," Soren explained.

"Maybe, but I think that the ship actually came here because it knew we were in this galaxy. It knew its energy reserves wouldn't last long enough to travel another hundred million light years in order to reach the Andromeda galaxy. Even for Liam's ship, such distances are not a trivial matter," Loral added.

"True, true. Still, even in that case, it means the Furling constructed the Sphere in a remote galaxy where Liam's ship could reach it and be retrieved by us. This event could change the course of this war in our favor. It is possible that Liam's ship has crucial information we need in our fight against the Vargas. There could be information on how to find Liam as well. That is if he's still alive," Soren concluded on a more somber note.

"That is something I have no doubts about," Loral replied immediately. "I'm sure Liam will play a crucial role in this war, and since this war is far from over, I'm certain that Liam is still alive. We just don't know where he is. He's... like the main character in this epic story anyway. Therefore, no chance of him dying on us. No chance at all."

"I hope your optimism eventually gets rewarded. I really do," Soren replied. "Well, there isn't much we can do now than to wait and see what happens in 6 days and 22 hours. Hopefully, the patience we displayed while staying in this galaxy will be rewarded with this sphere finally giving us some answers and maybe even full access, so that our mission can come to a satisfactory end, once and for all."

It was true that they would still need to wait before answers could be given, but after having waited for years while living alone on the Sphere, Soren was certain that the seven days before the integration of whatever the key component was completed, would pass in no time at all. He also hoped the Furling were done with pranks, puzzles and games in general, and that now the time to act has finally come. Loral was also optimistic that Liam was alive. However, Soren didn't like the current situation one bit. Liam's ship was in bad shape, which meant it probably had to escape in a hurry in order to evade destruction. That also meant two other things. One, Liam wasn't on the ship at the time of departure. It meant he was probably on some other ship or maybe a nearby planet and was for some reason unable to return in time. Two, the ship would have never left Liam behind without Liam's explicit instruction to do so and certainly only under protest. Moreover, the ship controlled by William would have attempted to retrieve Liam if it was at all possible. The fact that it didn't, meant the ship was in such a state that such an attempt was impractical or there was no way to locate Liam. Both options didn't leave Soren with much hope that they would find Liam's whereabouts easily.

Soren sighed. He was fed up of having to wait. He was even more fed up of knowing little to nothing of any real use. It was making him fill powerless and unable to do anything other than sit and wait.

* * *

 ** _Thank you for reading another chapter. I hope you liked it. Reviews are always appreciated. So, leave one if you feel like it._**


	7. Progress - Part II

_**Q & A:**_

 **mrazab1994:** Well, they did seem needlessly concerned for the hero of the story ;D I too hope that inspiration will keep coming. Inspiration and time to write that inspiration down.

 **Carmencami99:** Yes! that's the phrasing I was missing. You learn to leave with Rush. I also think that if I don't introduce new characters from time to time, the story might become a rehashing of the original. So, Lora should be a nice addition. I'm also trying to make her with slightly different views from those of the average Terran, a way to introduce the newly created Alterrans that in no way should be carbon copies of humans. I think I'm getting good at predicting when readers are starting to get unnerved because I'm not writing about something :D.

Not sure about diverging from the main (Vargas) plot either. I'll think hard before creating any new subplots that are not necessarily needed.

As said in the last chapter, Liam is the main character in this epic story. No way he's gonna die.

 **random Norwegian:** As far as mobile missile platforms are concerned, I have something in mind, but you'll have to wait a few more chapters to learn about it. Sorry, but no spoilers at this point. Not sure about the timetable. It can last a lot, but I'm not going to prolong the story needlessly. If I find a reasonable and interesting way to end it, I'm gonna take it.

If I'm going to write the fourth book, it won't be part of Liam's Trilogy, and I need to stress the if part too because am not sure I'll write it. If I do, though, it will be with existing fictional universes. This is fanfiction, which is for people to reimagine existing stories. Also, if I was to put the effort of creating my own universes, with new characters and everything else, I'll rather write a completely original story and try to publish it instead. I think that would make more sense.

I can try to explain quantum disruptors (QDs), the way I envisioned them. Everything in the universe on the smallest level can be thought as a distinct energy pattern (or energy waveform) both matter and energy. A quantum disruptor breaks that energy pattern, effectively breaking matter or energy into lesser energy patterns or outright erasing it. Because of it, a QD must be calibrated to match a particular energy pattern (that of the armor for example, or shield). A Pulse QD cannot hold the continuous amount of disruptive energy as beam weapon can. The most a pulse QD can hope is to break part of the armor, which then breaks, crumbles or losses some of its attributes, maybe the ability to disperse energy among others. A QDB on the other hand, and depending on how dense the fired beam is and how long it can stay active can even erase matter or energy from existence. It is a process of annihilation between the two, the armor and the beam.

The point with the research done with the QDBs is to show that not everything can be solved in a day or two. That sometimes it takes years, and maybe sometimes it cannot be solved at all. The Terrans must face challenges before getting rewarded ;D

 **Alexa:** The truth about the Key coming up right now ;D

 **EffervescentNova:** True, the most knowledgeable of them all is Liam. However, since even the ascended don't know everything, he doesn't either. Even he went into the universe with no knowledge of what to expect.

 **AlistairAshby:** from the show, I didn't get the feeling that exotic particles are dangerous. Not as much as unpredictable in how they are created. that fact messed up the math behind the Arcturus generator because it could not be predicted. If they were dangerous in they way you think, I think the Arcturus would have simply blown up. There are, though, quantum torpedoes which work by extracting zero point energy from the universe. I suppose they create exotic particles as well. Maybe I'll work on quantum torpedoes that have some hidden potential because of the exotic particles.

 _ **Thanks to my beta, and hope you'll like this chapter too.**_

* * *

Walking down the long flight of stairs, Sam quickly neared the lowest level of the large lab where most of the top-secret projects were being done these days. There, inside that large and tall room, scientists were working tirelessly in an attempt to finalize the last few research projects that would give the alliance of four races a decisive advantage over the Vargas. They really needed it. They needed it because the Vargas were spread everywhere, with numbers and allies dwarfing those of the alliance by so much that there was no comparison to be made. If only they could finish the research being done in this particular lab, they could finally go on an offensive and one day, maybe, even end this senseless war.

Yet, Sam's current worry wasn't about the research being done in that lab. Another problem has arisen. One that could in the future come back to bite them in the ass.

Entering inside the portion of the lab where rows of desks were placed, Sam was greeted by a ghastly sight. Scores of scientists drained of their life force to the bone. Most of them were pale - certainly having seen no sun in weeks - sickly crumpled on their desks, and with their glassy and joyless eyes darting between multiple monitors. There was no doubt in Sam's mind. The only thing that was keeping them going was huge amounts of coffee, if not the ingestion of some other, much stronger drug. Further away, and through the glass walls of his office, Sam could see the man in charge as well as the one responsible for the state of the people in the lab.

She walked briskly towards the office and the man inside.

"Rodney! What are you doing to these people?" Sam shouted to the man that was almost asleep on his desk. He didn't look any better than the rest. If anything, he looked worse.

Rodney jumped, quickly noticing the intruder. He suddenly winced, before grabbing his head with both hands. "Don't yell! My head is threatening to split in half!"

This wasn't the time to listen to his whining. "Answer my question, Rodney!"

Rodney was angry and frustrated, and it was showing.

"What do you want from me? I'm trying to develop what that terrorist of a man is asking of us before this month's meeting comes up!" he pleaded.

"Terrorist? What are you talking about?" Sam asked. It seemed that Rodney had finally gone completely bonkers.

"Jack. I mean Jack. I'm squeezing these people beyond any boundary or reason so that he wouldn't come back here and threaten everyone again because we didn't deliver in time. I want to have something for the next monthly meeting so that he wouldn't need to come again. Ever!"

"Rodney… today is Thursday," Sam answered.

There was a long pause. "Saying that it is Thursday when we are on a space station around an alien planet in a binary system inside a pocket universe created somewhere in between the Milky Way and the Pegasus galaxy doesn't give me the necessary information."

Sam sighed. Rodney wasn't wrong about how useless knowing which day of the week it was while orbiting a planet that wasn't Earth. Still… "Rodney, today's date is November…the 3rd."

"Oh, crap!" Rodney responded. "Four days! Where did I lose four days?"

Sam turned as she heard the other scientists starting to complain. Apparently, while closed inside this lab and with no contact with the outside whatsoever, they didn't notice the deadline had passed. She turned as she more than anything sensed Rodney as he sprang from his desk. He passed next to her, storming out of his office like a bullet. "What are you complaining about, you bunch of ingrates! We missed the deadline, so what! We will keep going until the next one in a month's time! You got it?"

Sam watched as one of the scientists dropped onto the floor. From the looks of it, she fell asleep the same instant as she hit the deck. "Wow. This is too much, Rodney, even for you. Give these poor people at least a few days of rest."

"I can't. Jack checks the logs every time he comes here. He'll know that people weren't at their desks for two straight days."

"Oh, come on Rodney. Jack isn't the terrorist you keep stating he is."

"Oh no? Then let me explain to you what kind of man he is. The first time he didn't like the progress we were making, he instructed dispatch to only deliver meatloaf… for a month! I don't know how he got himself such connections, but the result was that we ate meatloaf for an entire month, Sam!

"Next month it was even worse. After his second visit, he…" Rodney was for some reason having trouble speaking. "He changed the beverages we were receiving on the station. The only drink we received was… _LEMONADE_!"

Sam could almost see tears in Rodney's eyes. Maybe Jack _was_ pushing it a little too far. Jack's fascination with big honking space guns had gotten worse. Apparently, it was at the point where he was threatening people; in Rodney's case with poison no less. "Okay, that's it! Leave Jack to me. He won't be coming here anymore. From now on, you're dealing with me and only me. At least, that is as far as anything related to the research you're doing is concerned. Is that okay with you, Rodney?"

"When you say that you'll deal with Jack, does that mean you'll deal with all of them? There isn't only one of them, Sam."

"Yes, I'll deal with all of them… somehow," Sam replied, but she wasn't too happy about it or confident in her own success for that matter. It wasn't easy to deal with all three of them. Those three were crafty, and since they were almost the same person, it could almost be said that they were capable of telepathic communication. She needed to tread carefully or they could otherwise pull a fast one on her. "Now, let's go back to the real reason why I'm here, shall we?"

"Which is?" Rodney asked, clueless.

"First, it is true that as a member of the council you should be present when they are convening, at least at the monthly discussions. However, since your work now is so important, I will be the one coming to you with everything that has transpired in those meetings, and if you have something important to pass on, I'll be your proxy in the council. Does this sound acceptable to you, Rodney?"

"Of course it does. I'm actually glad that I don't have to lose days away from this lab and my work by traveling outside of the pocket universe and then having to wait for the chance to enter it again. There's always a delay of a few days at the very least."

He was glad he wouldn't have to leave, but the grunt the other scientists let out was enough to let Sam know what _they_ thought about the idea. They would have to suffer through it, there was no other choice.

"Yeah, I know. That's why I'm proposing this. Since I'm stationed on Asura, I have no problem going through the supergate, travel to the Milky Way galaxy and then to Earth." Sam was taking a datapad out. "Sign this so I can be your proxy in the council."

Rodney took the datapad. "Are you sure it won't be too big of a burden for you? I mean, you still have your own work as the Third Admiral of the Navy to think about. You are in charge of the Navy's R&D after all."

"We are still doing very little in terms of research compared to you here in the pocket universe. The only major research project that I'm working on is the one where we're trying to understand how Jack's polymorphic suit works, especially the ability of that strange energy field to strengthen the bonds between molecules, which it turns out is even more complicated than we thought."

"I thought Liam was on the right track before he went away," Rodney inquired.

"He was. We were the ones who didn't read the fine prints and mistakenly assumed that the field only strengthens the covalent bonds between molecules. However, in some notes he wrote only a month after he started working on it Liam already noticed changes on a quantum level that shouldn't have been there if his initial suppositions were correct. If we didn't skip those, we would probably be much further right now. We were focusing on the bond between molecules as the goal, instead of thinking of it as the side effect of what the energy field was really doing, which was to make changes on a quantum level on how energy particles interact."

"Oh, that sounds bad. How much time did you lose before you noticed?"

"One scientist noticed that the equations weren't coming up right for what we were observing in our experiments. I don't know if you know him. A guy named Eli Wallace," Sam explained.

"Yes, I know him. When it comes to math, he has an innate ability to see the equations in his mind. I was fascinated with him. He just went through the Genesis Project at the time we first met."

"Yes, well, you know how scientists are when someone in his twenties is trying to tell you that you're doing something wrong," Sam said, with frustration rising as she recalled the events that led to their delay.

"So, let me guess. They arrogantly discarded everything he said and possibly even ridiculed him," Rodney replied knowingly. The science community was a fierce one, and opinionated people were to be found in abundance.

"Yeah, it went so far that Eli decided to move onto another project, rather than deal with them. I think he is now on the Destiny. Anyway, the negative side is that not only did we go in the wrong direction for a year or so, but we've also lost the only scientist who was able to so easily understand the underlying math, which I must say is beyond our ability to comprehend. We had to borrow a few of the newly minted Alterrans and a few Asgard who are true geniuses when math is concerned in order to somehow continue with the work," Sam explained, slightly disgusted. "When I heard about those idiots in the R&D and what they've done to Eli… I wanted to space them."

"I bet," Rodney replied. The math involved was on the level where even Rodney 2.0, the one that went through the Lantean ascension machine and almost died because of it, would also have a challenge in understanding it, much less solving it. "So, how are you now standing with the project?"

There was something in Rodney's voice and that she had detected that was making her very curious. Although, she still couldn't fathom what it might be. "We were able to create a field that is capable of strengthening a composite material like the armor we've developed up to ten times."

Rodney was whistling. "That's not bad. Not bad at all. I know this isn't even close to the final goal of the technology you want to create, but even that is something that can definitely be used."

"Yeah, but there's a problem. So far, we were able to create only a small field. Nothing that could envelop the hull of a ship or anything like that," Sam responded, again noticing what had now become a mischievous smile on Rodney's face. "Okay, Rodney, what is it with that smile of yours? It's creeping me out."

"Well, we are currently working on a quantum disruptor beam and we are having problems containing it in a tight beam. The released energy simply doesn't listen to us. As you know, the QDB should be a weapon that does almost the opposite of what you guys are doing. The main reason why we are having problems is that we have gobbled up different technologies like the weapon on Dakara, the Vargas strange energy weapon and then tried to tweak all that by adding more things coming from the pocket universe, hoping it would finally work somehow. The problem is that we have no underlying theory that explains what we are trying to create. This project is an awkward attempt at getting something by blindly changing things and expecting to eventually get something good out of all of it. Luck is too much of a factor in this project for my liking, Sam.

"However, if you give us the underlying equations you worked on your project, we could maybe find something that could push our research ahead in the right direction. Maybe we won't find anything or maybe we'll be lucky and we'll hit the jackpot, I don't know, but one thing I do know. The way we are doing it right now, it could take ten years before we get even the smallest of results."

Sam smiled, mischievously. "Oh? So, you're saying that you need my help in order to continue, is that right?" She was paying him back for the arrogance he had shown after he became the new member of the Council after having successfully created a working Arcturus reactor.

Rodney would probably have exploded, but he was so tired that he barely reacted with a weird twitch of his body. "Sam, look around. These people are at their limits. And I _swear,_ if we have nothing to show for in a month, I'm going to drink that lemonade that is right now being cooled in our fridge."

"All right, all right, Rodney. No need to threaten with suicide," Sam hastily responded, but there was a mischievous grin on her face. "Besides, you are a dead man walking anyway."

"What? What are you talking about?" Rodney asked, once again clueless.

"You having missed the monthly meeting _was_ bad, but, Rodney… wasn't there _another_ reason why you needed to go to Earth?" Sam asked, waiting for realization to strike the forgetful man like a ten pounds heavy and wet towel across the face.

Rodney was walking back to his desk while looking thoughtful. "Well, no… I don't think… today is November, the 3rd, so… yesterday… was… the… _anniversary!_ " Rodney dropped onto his chair, suddenly looking pale. "Yep, I'm a dead man."

"Well, it seems you'll have enough time to come up with a proper way to apologize to her since you're now stuck here for the conceivable future. She also got another tour with one of the Peace Corps' medical ships, the one currently slated for departure to worlds in the Milky Way galaxy that have been attacked by the Vargas or their henchmen. I don't think you two will see each other anytime soon, which means you'll have to come up with some great gift for when you finally do meet," Sam replied. The truth was that she met with Keller two days ago, and she had to board the medical ship even before their anniversary the next day. However, Rodney had forgotten all about it and he needed to pay the price, which meant that she wasn't about to tell him that little bit of exculpatory evidence. She felt bad for him. It must not be easy to be chosen as the person who needs to develop something that could mean the difference between victory and defeat in a war where losing also meant the end of their entire race. Even more so, having to be in charge of a project that someone like Jack has a special interest in must be even more nerve-wracking.

"Y-yeah, I think I can come up with something for Christmas, I think," Rodney replied, but there was no joy whatsoever in his voice.

"And since Jack is not going to come here anymore, you can give those poor schmucks in the other room a few days of rest so that we don't have any fatalities in the R&D department. It would be a bitch to have to explain it at the next council meeting, which I'm the one who'll have to attend in your stead. Got it, Rodney?"

"Got it. Everybody is free until Monday."

Somehow, they must have heard even though Rodney hadn't shouted the reply. The next instant, the entire lab was empty. Somehow, they had even dragged the woman that fell on the floor. In record time, Rodney and Sam remained the only people in the entire lab.

"You see, Rodney. This kind of reaction tells you when you went too far. You must take more care of your people," Sam said while turning only to notice that Rodney was fast asleep on his desk.

Well, it was time for her to go to the planet's surface. There were other research projects that were being conducted in the Clava Thessara Infinitas and she wanted to visit them all and see how they were proceeding. She had heard many great things were being done in here. Yet, since the work done by Rodney's team was currently the most important, other teams were being overshadowed even though they were accomplishing great things. Felger's team was the one having the greatest results. He was working on a gravitational barrier strong enough to stop anything, even the STD torpedoes, just as Jack had ordered him to do, although a few years later than Jack had intended.

Even the light could be bent around the protected object, in theory. It was like the barrier created a closed space around it, completely isolating it from the rest of the universe. Of course, as a defense, such a barrier was beyond just great. No known weapon could harm you if you were inside. Yet, the problem was that whatever was inside was also unable to see or interact with the outside universe. A ship inside the created closed space would be unable to fire back, use sensors, or even have communications with the outside. There was also the problem that all tests of the systems showed there was the need for a massive amount of energy in order for the device to function properly. It was debilitating, and yet, the thought of having some kind of ultimate defense was pushing them to research it further, hoping for the day when they would start installing such a system aboard their ships. However, for that to happened, they would have to succeed in protecting something bigger than the meter long ship model they were barely able to surround in a lab. More work was definitely needed, but it was promising.

Other projects were being done in this place. She knew there were scientists working on increasing the efficiency of every component on the next generation of ships, including shields, propulsion, weaponry, energy generation, component durability and so on and so on. Some were working on their shielding, trying to prevent even something like the replicators from finding a way of penetrating them, other than through the use of brute force. Others were developing phased torpedoes that in theory should be able to pass through the hull of a ship before exploding. Something that they were centering on the weapon the Tollans had built a long time ago and that was to be used against Earth's Iris. Overall, the Alliance was arming itself to the teeth with whatever they could think of in order to prepare for the day when they would inevitably have to leave the protected confines of their star systems. Those that were currently filled with various defenses like minefields, missiles, long-range energy weapons and a disruptive field capable of blocking everything that needed subspace to work. Once they took the fight to the Vargas in some unknown and distant galaxy there would be no such gadgets that could give them an edge in battle. There they would need other ways to face the Vargas and still come out victorious. And not only victorious but rather they needed overwhelming victories over an enemy that had many times their resources and that spanned across a good portion of the known universe.

Sam didn't like it. She thought they would have turned away from constant research for the military and devoted most of their time in researching things that would instead benefit the Terran society. After all, her department should have become the only one that worked on developing new toys for the Terran Space Navy, while Rodney's department should have taken care of other research not related to the military. Their predictions were that research towards enlightenment and ascension should have started years ago, yet, to this very day, it still hadn't. And they all knew how long it would take for that kind of research to bear any fruit. At least, that was if the people stuck in the time-dilation field in the Pegasus galaxy were any indication on how long it took.

She sighed, thinking how there was not much she could do to change things. Not until they chased the Vargas out of their region of space. She hoped the equations they've come up with for another project would help Rodney develop the weapon everyone was expecting would give them a massive edge in the war, one that would eventually allow them to win against the Vargas.

Beside that weapon, she didn't know what other miracles could help them survive this war, and survival was, indeed, what was at stake here, for she knew that the Vargas would not stop until they were all dead and burried.

* * *

Making camp on a planet in a distant galaxy was an experience he was going to cherish for the remainder of his hopefully long life. Moments such as these showed him how he had made the right choice when he had decided to join the expedition. Eli wasn't certain that leaving Atlantis to embark on this perilous mission, full of unknowns and with the not so small chance of never being able to get back home, hadn't been impulsive. The three months spent on Haven, while training in the ways of the military under the planet's crushing gravity, didn't help ease his worries that maybe - just maybe - this mission wasn't for him after all. Those were the harshest three months of his life, especially the first two or so weeks immediately after coming on the planet completely unprepared for what was to follow. It wasn't just about the training in which he was convinced that their instructor was a natural born sadist who greatly enjoyed seeing his pupils suffer throughout the whole training process. The gravity and the much higher air pressure was making even the moments when they weren't training barely bearable. As trainees, they had access to special facilities that could change the conditions inside a localized field to those more suited to people born on Earth. However, their instructor wouldn't let them use that or other similar features meant to ease their stay on Haven ever. Apparently, his philosophy was that, since during their future missions there was a possibility of being stuck on a planet with even harsher conditions than those currently present on Haven, and where they wouldn't have the luxury of spending any time in some cozy room with Earth settings, then he wasn't going to allow it during training either. He simply wasn't going to make their training any easier, which meant 24 hours a day of constant suffering. And yes, even sleeping wasn't fun. At least that was the case for the first two weeks until their body became more acclimated to the pressure and extra weight. It was a very difficult time, and yet, somehow, he had made it out alive from the whole three-months-training-camp ordeal, stronger than ever and ready to take his rightful place as a fully-fledged member of the expedition.

Nobody would tell him that he didn't belong here. Not in the way those obtuse scientists had said to him just because he was younger and because he didn't attend the same education as those fossils did.

Now he was glad they had gone through the rigorous training regiment, since the planet he was currently on had a similar gravity as that of Haven, around 1.3g, and with the air having a slightly higher oxygen and CO2 concentration than what was the norm on Earth. His head was throbbing a little and the walk from the gate to where they had decided to place their camp - one mile away and on a slightly higher ground - wasn't a picnic either. However, he knew that all this would pass after a few days spent on the planet needed to acclimate. He was also glad that he wasn't among the first to venture through the gate on missions to other worlds except for this one, which was not a bad one as far as planets in this galaxy were concerned. The Destiny didn't have detailed information on the planets they were going to visit, but even what they did have had been enough for him to understand that some of them weren't very hospitable.

"Already taking a break?" Commander Scott asked as he passed near Eli.

"Give me a break," Eli responded while munching one of the disgusting protein bars. While on long-term missions of exploration, and while away from Destiny, they had one meal a day and the rest was comprised of as many protein bars as you could stomach. Of course, no one managed to eat more than two a day. "I just helped install the mining unit over there."

"Eli, the unit has an antigrav sled, and to make it work, you just needed to push a button."

It was true. The Alterrans were great at inventing things that saved you from doing manual labor of any kind. The mining unit was a great example of that fact. The machine was big, but it had its own antigrav unit, which made moving it a very enjoyable task, almost as if you were taking you dog for a walk. Once the unit was placed where you wanted to mine something, its activation shot countless tendrils no thicker than a standard fishing line into the ground. Those tendrils then spread through the ground for miles in all directions. The machine uses them to suck materials you wanted on a molecular level. The idea behind this machine was that sought materials were always to be found, everywhere on the planet, even those that were categorized as rare. The problem is that their concentration is usually so small that excavation and separation from the unwanted materials were unfeasible. However, since this machine grabbed only elements the machine was programmed to search for, almost any location with even trace amounts of some precious element were enough to in time come up with a sizable quantity. It was also the cleanest way to collect what you needed since the ground wasn't disturbed or destroyed by using some destructive methods and there was no pollution because of the use of some dangerous chemicals. On Earth, leaving unwanted chemicals behind was still a very common side effect when mining was concerned.

What Scott had said was very true. He didn't do all that much to get the mining unit up and running. However, now it was too late to back down and simply admit it. "I moved it up the hill."

"Yeah, I see sweat coming down your cheeks," Scott spat back, sarcasm dripping with each word spoken. "By the way, did you take the chip?"

Eli began tapping on the many pockets on his jacket and pants until he found it. "Here it is. Not that it matters, even if I left it on camp."

"I know, I know, they aren't the fastest creatures in the universe, but it is better to have it than to have to run and search for it when you need it the most. And you never know. There are other creatures here too, not just them."

' _Them,'_ Eli thought while frowning. Those were the strangest sentient beings they had ever encountered and they definitely didn't have anything in common with any other known race; humans included. He wasn't sure how such a race could have survived, much less progressed to the point they did. In his opinion, the most similar creature to them was… _a sloth_. One of their villages was less than five miles from the gate's location, yet, it would take the creature five hours to reach it and only if it was in a hurry, which wasn't often. It was the main reason why Eli couldn't understand how such a creature could thrive. It was true that the planet had a stronger gravity, which could promote the evolution of a species that didn't move much. There was also the fact that ninety percent of the food requirements of the creature - dubbed by the expedition as _Sloth_ \- was done by ingesting some weird, dark purple vegetable resembling a carrot that could be easily found growing and could even easier be cultivated. Analysis of the plant suggested incredible properties, even for humans. Sadly, it was even more disgusting than the protein bars, which was an accomplishment worthy of notice.

Still, with not much need to go around in search of food, the only other reason for moving faster would be to have some kind of strong predator that forced you to flee. The Sloths had solved that particular problem in a different way. They were excreting some kind of liquid through their skin that somehow repelled all the carnivores on the planet. Though lethal attacks still happened from time to time by a few of the bigger predators, even with the plentiful use of their natural repellant. However, even those occasional deaths were countered by the creature's longevity that easily compensated for the loss of a few individuals mauled by an animal that didn't get the memo on how disgusting these creatures were. In the end, the Sloths were the dominant and smartest species on the planet, maybe even as smart as humans were. Still, through observation, the researchers had come to the conclusion that the creatures wouldn't progress much more than they already did, or at least not anytime soon and not without some incentive that would trigger a positive evolutionary response. In short, the need to change was missing, as they were living comfortably as they were with no worries whatsoever. They were now living in small villages, mostly in huts and with fields filled with the strange carrots planted all around them. Even on an intellectual level, there was no need for a change. The greatest discoveries are always done in a time of dire need. On the other hand, the _Sloths_ had everything they needed, and they lived their lives carelessly without worrying too much about possible predators or by infightings because of a food shortage.

 _Not much need to invent the wheel in such circumstances, is it?_

Even while knowing all that, everybody on the planet was issued a chip that was connected to the central stealth unit in the camp in order to conceal their presence if needed be. The hybrid Senari-Alterran concealment system was capable of making everybody and everything with the chip invisible and undetectable even by the Vargas sensors. Therefore, if a Sloth suddenly decided to take a hike near their camp – a five hours hike - they would simply activate the cloaking system and the entire camp, their equipment and the people in it would simply disappear. This way, nobody needed to have a personal cloaking system on them at all times and yet, trees and other objects around them weren't affected by the cloaking system. It would otherwise be strange if trees suddenly started disappearing into thin air.

As he took the last bite of the healthy but also utterly disgusting protein bar, he began hearing a puzzling sound. A sound that, as far as he knew, should not be heard by anyone on the planet. Since the whining sound was coming from his left but also slightly from above, he was sure that the thing making it must be nothing other than a flying craft. The second thing that he noticed was that things were starting to disappear in the distance where their camp was. Only moments later, the mining machine and then Scott vanished as well. He understood that the stealth system they were talking about was coming online, at the same time as he too phase-shifted. Now he could see everything that had disappeared once again, yet everything around him lost all color. It was the aftereffect of the cloaking system. He could see other cloaked objects, but the world also lost all colors and it seemed somehow dimmer.

This was also the moment when the flying thing making the whining sound flew over his head. From what he could tell, the only way for somebody to be piloting that thing that just flew over him was if the pilot was the size of a fairy. This, in turn, made him conclude that probably what flew over him was unmanned. It was maybe a meter in size and rounded, and he was certain that the thing could not have any type of FTL propulsion installed, which indicated that it was native to the planet or, as the more logical conclusion, that it was brought here by something else.

Something much bigger and that was probably still in orbit, high above them.

Eli could see that the flying saucer had stopped moving above the stargate. As far as interesting things to see and possibly scan while at it, the stargate was on top of a list of interesting things on this planet that contained exactly one entry. If everything cloaked was disregarded as a possible curiosity for something like an automated, flying saucer, then after a short scanning of the stargate, the thing should fly away, hopefully, to never return. He couldn't be certain, but he thought that the expression plastered on Scott's face was conveying the same sentiment. More so because he knew that both of them had recognized the little devil. It wasn't the same as those seen in the Milky Way galaxy. Those in the Milky Way galaxy also weren't much to look at, and definitely were built with cheap materials as their basic building blocks. This one was even worse, and the muzzle of the two plasma cannons on the front had a caliber by at least half an inch smaller than the one he had personally inspected from a collected wreckage while still in the Milky Way galaxy. Still, there was no doubt about what they were looking at, and the best way to describe it would be to call it a precursor of the Milky Way Reapers.

Unbelievably, their training had taught them how to deal with such situations as well. They were currently under cloak and talking or using a radio was strictly forbidden. As explained by their training officer on Haven, failure to shut up and stay silent in such a situation would be severely punished. If not by the superior officer at the scene, then certainly by the plasma blast fired by the enemy. Hence, Eli was staying silent as a mouse, waiting for Scott to walk silently towards him. Since the development of cloaking tech that allowed those under its influence to continue seeing each other, the military had decided that all members of an away team must know the sign language.

" _Reapers huh? Who would have thought?"_ Eli said by making quick signs with his hands.

" _We knew the Vargas are spread everywhere. Still, I'm a little angry at our bad luck. Not only are we in a galaxy where there are reapers, but we also have the bad luck of having a reaper come to this planet while we are here,"_ Scott replied, he as well by making signs with his hands.

" _I don't think that luck has anything to do with it,"_ Eli responded while giving an inquiring look at the floating reaper, still near the gate.

" _What?"_ Scott asked by making the well-known sign, even to those who didn't know the sign language.

" _Think about it,"_ Eli began. _"Reapers know about stargates for certain. So, this one is not scanning the stargate because it is fascinated by something new. We didn't see this exact behavior in our galaxy because we don't use gates anymore, but I think the reaper is here because of the subspace noise created by an active stargate. Essentially, we are the ones who called the Reaper here."_

" _Crap!"_ Scott made the appropriate sign quickly. _"That means the Reapers know where the Destiny is too!"_

" _Calm down. The Destiny is long gone by now. I'm certain they can't track it once it goes into FTL,"_ Eli replied, trying to calm Scott. It wasn't exactly a situation where they could be calm, but there was no point in freaking out either since there was not much they could do except by spending time by improving their sign language.

Scott did calm down. He too must have realized that there was nothing to do but to wait. Scott slowly walked and sat next to Eli on a boulder. _"Well, let's wait comfortably then."_

" _How long do you think we will have to wait for the reaper to leave,"_ Eli asked. It was bad to have to deal with machines. They had unlimited patience.

" _I don't know. I'm hoping it will eventually come to the erroneous conclusion that this planet was dialed but that nobody came through, so no reason to stick to this place for too long,"_ Scott responded. _"Then again, it could be days before it decides to do that."_

There was a long pause, simply because Eli didn't know what to say. They had enough weapons with them to blast the bugger, but that would clearly be a mistake. No one knew exactly what was in orbit, but whatever it was, it certainly had enough firepower to turn this entire place into a desolate wasteland. Therefore, the best and probably the only option was to wait patiently and see.

Even with the ability to communicate through sign language, they will quickly exhaust all topics of conversation. It was already happening and it hasn't even been fifteen minutes. He needed to restart the conversation.

" _Do you want a protein bar?"_ Eli asked by using the sign language. Anything was better than the silence.

Scott turned, giving Eli a look that made him flinch. _"As if having the Reapers here isn't bad enough."_

On the other hand, maybe staying silent wasn't the worst thing. He would pass on the bar too.

* * *

Soren stormed into the room where the Furling hologram was, quickly noticing Loral and two other people inside. It was the same as when he had left. It wasn't strange either since he was the only one who could open the doors leading in and out of the room, and blocking the doors also meant an extremely annoying alarm beeping mercilessly. He hoped that the ship would soon give them a little more control over its functions, so that he can at least allow other people present to move freely and without the need to be chaperoned at all times, even for simple things like going to the bathroom.

"How much longer?" Soren asked. He knew the time was almost up, but there could be last minute changes in the prediction the Furling hologram had given.

"I asked a minute ago," Loral replied while turning to face him. "Five more minutes and the integration process will be completed."

"Good, good," Soren replied while rubbing his hands expectantly. "In these six days, I must have gone through thousands of possible scenarios on what is going to happen after the component is integrated. I'm tired of playing scenarios in my head. I want to witness the real deal."

"I'm more curious about finding out what the key component is?" Loral asked.

"Actually, I think I can guess what it is," Soren replied.

"Oh? Please do tell," Loral replied, now clearly curious.

"I think it is the VI core," Soren replied.

"Why do you think that? To me, it could be any of the other advanced components on Liam's ship that the Furling need for this sphere to be fully functional."

"It is true that I can't be certain, but from the memories of the Furling I have from the Repository of Knowledge I know that they were particularly bad at that stuff," Soren continued.

"The Furling were bad at making VI cores?" Loral asked.

"Of course they were. And if you think about it, it isn't strange at all." Soren replied, waiting for Loral to think about it for a while. It didn't take long.

"I'm thinking about it. Yet, I'm not any closer in understanding why?"

"Well, I told you before that the greatest ability of the Furling was to see events from the distant future unfold. With such an ability, it isn't strange at all that they were great engineers since they could easily get ideas on how to build some unknown device by watching it as it was being built in the distant future, maybe even by themselves. However, their ability isn't all-powerful. While they could see something being built and replicate or reverse engineer it in their present, a VI core is nothing special without the billions of lines of code needed to make it work properly," Soren explained. Now waiting to see if Loral understood.

"I get it! There is no way that through visions of the future a Furling could copy billions of lines of code!" Loral responded as realization dawned.

"Exactly! You can't become a programmer capable of programming something as complex as a VI core by just looking somebody from the future while he is typing the code. It is impossible. Furthermore, it takes hundreds of different people, coding day and night for decades, that's how gargantuan a project such as a VI Core is. Being able to see the future doesn't mean you are able to create everything somebody else was able to create."

"So, you think that the Furling were after the VI core in Liam's ship. You think they are after William," Loral continued.

"Not necessarily. I think they are after the VI core and the original core programming. I don't think they care about William that much. If I were the Furling, I would have stashed a Furling consciousness aboard this sphere for the moment when a VI core became available. We know that the VI core on Liam's ship is the most advanced core ever created by the Alterrans. By combining a copy of it with the consciousness of a Furling that built this sphere, they could achieve the ultimate avatar for this construct, while leaving William intact as Liam ship's avatar."

"As theories go, I must admit that yours is a very intriguing one, and also a theory I would very much like to be true. A sophisticated virtual intelligence would make managing this massive sphere much, much easier. Can you imagine the number of people needed to properly man this construct otherwise?" Loral concluded.

"Yes, I don't know what lies behind these thick walls, but whatever it is it must need a lot of attention," Soren said, thoughtfully. Who knew what the sphere contained. What something that was a perfect sphere of no less than 1,800 kilometers in radius may hold?

"Hello," the Furling hologram sprang to life, slowly scrutinizing the people in the room.

"Hello, I am Soren," Soren replied, as he had noticed that this wasn't the reply expected from a simple AI.

"Yes, I am aware. I went through all the sensor data for the last three years," he responded. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you, friend of old. By now, you must have realized that I am a true Furling and not a simple AI construct only capable of minimal interaction like the one you previously interacted with. My name is Hunahpu, and I am here to help you in any way I can."

"It was 'bout bloody time!" Soren shouted.

"Uh, anger," Hunahpu said while looking at the floor. He immediately began fidgeting with his hands. "It was to be expected, after three years spent on the ship, alone… with that beard no less. My people warned me, though. That is why I was prepared for it; somewhat prepared. The Alterrans were often angry at the Furling. Nobody understood our actions, although those were always done to benefit distant future, yes?"

If Soren remembered correctly, the Furling were a race that abhorred confrontation, rarely even crossing eyes with whom they were speaking as that to them was a sign of confrontation. It was also a reason why the Furling liked spending time with the Nox more than with the other races. The Alterran were bigger than the Furling and as opposed to the diminutive aliens, they did not have any qualms from looking others straight into their eyes and even raising their voices at times. To the Furling, the Asgard were an even bigger challenge as they were taller and more intimidating than the Alterran were. As the youngest of the races, the Asgardian were also the most impulsive and at times confrontational with the Furling, on a whim. It wasn't even all that strange that the Furling had progressed in such a way since with their ability to see the distant future, they could easily evade any kind of altercation with ease.

"I apologize," Soren said, putting a milder expression, which the Furling it seemed has greatly appreciated. "It has been a tiring three years, and I am not certain that your ability to see the future and consequently having done everything in your power to bring the best possible future to fruition explain my long isolation as a necessity."

"Yes, yes, very difficult to understand, because there is no rational way to come to the same conclusion as we did, other than to witness the future the same way as we do. Every time we see the future, it changes and this selected path was the only one that gave us all three wanted outcomes at a satisfactory level. I apologize for the discomfort caused. However, we believed it to be a small price to pay for achieving the wanted outcome, yes?" Hunahpu explained.

"If you say so," Soren replied, not yet fully convinced. Then he remembered something Hunahpu said. "What three wanted outcomes?"

"The first outcome was for this Sphere to be found by you, without the Vargas finding out of its existence. We believe we have succeeded in keeping it hidden, which will in your future endeavors, help you greatly. The second outcome was for the Battle of Eden to happen and for the Edenians to survive without loss of a large number of civilians on the ground. There were also many possible futures where we saw the battle of Eden going better than it did in this reality. However, two main factors were different in them. Because no Vargas ship had escaped in order to warn the others, Liam decided to remain. This, in turn, changed the future considerably. So much that in two years' time the Vargas returned with over ten thousand ships and destroyed everything in their path while searching for him. We immediately discarded all paths that led to Liam remaining.

"The second factor is the Edenian deciding to relocate in the Clava Thessara Infinitas, which will allow them to turn into Alterran faster, which will then in turn speed research inside the pocket universe considerably. Research that you desperately need, yes?

"The third favorable outcome is for the Terrans to survive the Battle of Earth with minimal losses to their infrastructure. Unfortunately, we did not see a future in which their world survived unscathed from the attack. It is our belief that, with these three outcomes coming to pass, you have the best possibility of surviving the war against the Vargas," the Furling in holographic form explained in detail.

Soren sighed. "Well, if you say that what happened was all needed, I have no reason not to believe you. And it is true that if my three years in isolation meant the Vargas not knowing about this construct, about the Battle of Eden, and the Battle of Earth passing with minimal casualties, then I agree that it was a small price to pay. However, I believe that we now have something more important to discuss. First, to know if this construct is fully activated and second what happened to Liam's ship and possibly even to Liam?"

"With Liam ship's return, I was finally able to access the virtual intelligence that was missing in this construct. You have correctly assumed that we the Furling do not have the knowledge to program a virtual intelligence by virtue of foresight alone. Too many lines of code to be able to copy them from the future. We also do not have the same proficiency in programming as the Alterrans," Hunahpu explained, pausing for a moment. "However, upon inspection of Liam's ship, it was discovered that it was badly damaged, and not only in the sense of physical damage inflicted by weapons fire. We do not know of a weapon that could to it, but the ship has sustained some kind of attack that purged random memory addresses in the ship's memory crystals, progressively corrupting the VI's memory and core coding," Hunahpu explained.

"Wait! Are you saying that Liam's ship sustained a cyber attack?" Soren asked, mystified.

"Essentially, yes. However, this wasn't the type of attack you are assuming that happened. Usually, a cyber-attack finds some weakness in the system's defenses in order to gain access. Once access has been gained, malicious code is introduced in order to wreak havoc on the system. Such weakness does not exist in William's case. The VI is fully capable of repelling any such type of attack. What the ship has sustained was some kind of bombardment with high energy particles with pinpoint accuracy directly from subspace. Such bombardment simply overrode the information in the stored crystals with garbage data. From the logs, I was able to conclude that William was fighting this attack by attempting to create redundancy in his memory and by employing some kind of algorithm that constantly checked for discrepancies in the various memory crystals. At a certain point, it seemed as if William was able to repel the attack, but then the attack intensified, it seems from multiple sources at once. At that point, William understood that the only choice he had was to imprint the instructions on how to reach this galaxy in several million locations in the ship's memory banks so that a copy would always survive before he became too corrupt to function, which happened only milliseconds later. As he ceased to function, the subroutine he created engaged and the ship went into hyperspace on its long journey to here. It took this ship's computer almost seven days to restore the AI Core programming to its initial state so that it could be used in conjunction with my consciousness."

"We haven't witnessed any such attack before. Not during the Battle of Eden, and not afterward in the Milky Way galaxy. I wonder why that is?" Soren asked. If the Vargas has used such a devastating weapon on their fleet in the Battle of Eden, they could have destroyed them all as ships would simply stop working, or worse begin malfunctioning in the midst of battle. They would have to think of a way to prevent such a weapon from being effective if they wanted to have any chance against the Vargas. However, this now wasn't the bigger issue. "What about Liam and William?"

"Unfortunately, William's consciousness had sustained grave damage. Although, a quick analysis showed that enough redundancy of separate pieces of consciousness still exist to create a whole, which is a very positive discovery. It will take time, but I am optimistic in my ability to restore William successfully. However, his memory is in a much worse state. It appears he had to make a choice what to try to save and what not. At this point, I am uncertain of what memories will be restored. However, I will endeavor to save them all."

"I suppose that only if and when you restore William's memories, only then you'll be able to tell us where Liam is. Am I correct in my assumption?" Soren asked, already knowing the answer would be a resounding confirmation of his worries.

"Yes. At the moment, there is no data that would give us Liam's whereabouts," Hunahpu reported, somberly.

"Thought so. What can you tell me about the sustained ship's damage?" Soren asked.

"Energy residue on the ship's hull is indicative of Vargas weapons fire. However, the large chunks of the ship's missing armor and interior were caused by grazing shots from antiproton beams. Several of them at once, probably while doing high-speed evasive actions. My approximation of the events suggests that the ship's shields were strained to their limit by simultaneous impacts from multiple weapons, which allowed the antiproton beams to pass through for at least a short period of time. However, even this was enough for even the strong hull of Liam's ship to succumb eventually. And once pierced, antimatter expanded inside the ship with devastating results. Internal explosions caused pieces of the ship to outright explode as seen from these images," Hunahpu explained while showing the damage on the images that were currently floating in front of the people in the room. "It is a miracle the ship survived such an onslaught. That is if my approximation from evidence collected is correct, yes?"

Soren was looking at the images, aghast. It is easy to forget how big Liam's ship was, and think that the damages displayed on the one meter in size floating images were small. Those weren't small at all. On the displayed image, a ten-centimeter depicted hole translated into a gash of three hundred meters on the starboard aft side of a three-kilometer long ship. It was one of the biggest holes, yet it was far from being the only one. Even without any minute analysis of the ship, Soren could easily conclude that during the skirmish the ship was surrounded on all sides. This hadn't been a fair fight. That was certain. "Will you be able to repair the ship?"

"We have predicted this occurrence, yet we did not have the exact measurements of Liam's ship. Also, the ships armor plating is difficult to produce, even for the advanced shipyards located deep in the bowl of this construct. Estimates are that it will take between six and seven months before the ship is fully operational and upgraded with newer technologies."

"Upgraded? With what?" Soren asked.

"There are some improvements we the Furling were able to devise in the five million years since we left the Milky Way galaxy. Since the hull of the ship is damaged, I will attempt to improve upon the armor's defensive capabilities. I am also working on a defense against the weapon that disabled William. In addition, I expect that once we reach home, the scientists in the Clava Thessara Infinitas will have innovations readily available to be installed on Liam's ship, the same as on any other ship. I will also prepare Liam's ship to accept the quantum disruptor beams once they are ready. Hopefully, before we reach home."

It was strange to talk to a Furling who, although he had never been in the Milky Way galaxy, he knew more about the upgrades the Alliance was working on than he did. "Well, we will have to familiarize ourselves with the capabilities of this vessel. However, right now I would like us to move it to Cydonia, in anticipation of our voyage back home. How long will it take us to reach Cydonia?"

"One jump," Hunahpu responded. "Twenty-seven minutes to charge the quantum flux capacitors in order to translate the needed 23,342 light-years."

"I like the sound of that. Just as a curiosity, what is the longest jump this vessel can make?" He simply needed to know.

"After ten hours and fifty-two minutes of charging at full power, the quantum flux capacitors will reach maximum saturation. This is also enough time to calculate the space-time coordinates of the exit point, which can be no more than 17.3 million light years distant."

Soren's jaw dropped. He was impressed, and that didn't happen often. Then, he thought about it a little, not quite sure he liked his conclusion. "How can you possibly assure that this construct won't end inside a comet, moon, planet, star or any other object in space that might be waiting on the other side? It is impossible to have sensors capable of detecting anything at such distances."

"Such sensors are not needed for normal operations of this construct. There is a reason why William's AI core was joined with a Furling consciousness. A long time ago, it was envisioned that a combination of the two could give predictive capabilities, at least such that would give the split second of time needed to evade disaster by changing the coordinates or aborting the jump, even before anything truly happened."

"You can see this vessel exiting the jump point before the jump even occurred. Of course! This is the only way for a ship such as this to make any sense."

"You're correct. Such a vessel would have little chance of surviving hyperspace, would be too slow to travel via warp and would be too dangerous to make instantaneous jumps at such distances if left without the ability to see into the imminent future," the hologram explained.

"Well then. Let's get back to Cydonia and let's start packing." Soren said, before turning to Loral and putting a massive grin on his face. "Let's finally leave this wretched galaxy, shall we?"

* * *

 _ **And after five years, the Key is finally found and Soren is going home! Yay!**_

 _ **Thanks for reading. Leave a review if you feel like it.**_


	8. Visiting Home

**Author's note:** I apologize for the delay. I got swamped with work, and it seems it will continue like that for some time. The best way is from now on to expect new chapters every two weeks and then be positively surprised when it gets out sooner, then being more optimistic and feeling bad when it doesn't.

 **Q &A:**

 **EffervescentNova:** I am trying to make all races different in some ways. the Nox are pacifists to the core, the Alterra are the wise guys, mostly balanced, the Asgard are the logical, smart guys, and the Furling are the one capable of seeing the future. A study says that in a flight-or-fight reaction when faced with a dangerous opponent, statistically speaking a flight reaction is a better choice, though not as macho as the other one. Still, it has a greater chance of keeping you alive. The Furling also possess the ability to see the future and have been able to do so for time unknown, which would have allowed them to evade confrontation before they even started, the flight reaction. the Terrans are not the race with the last few thousand of years of experience in waging war.

Of course, the station will have its own tech. However, the station isn't a warship. Can you imagine a moon chasing after a warship? Except for the jump capability that allows it to cross vast distances, the station doesn't move very fast.

 **Morgauxo:** He is, but at the moment he wanted to know more about the sphere, the reason why he was stuck there for three years and a way to move it to Cydonia before getting the hell out of this galaxy. The Furling have been gone for five million years. A few days doesn't make a difference. Everything will eventually be explained.

 **Guest:** Thank you. I'm glad you like it so much. Everything will be revealed in time. I know that getting updates a week or weeks at a time isn't easy, but there's not much I can do about it. Thank you for the offer of help, although even if a were interested, signing as a guest account doesn't help much if one wanted to establish contact ;)

 **Arekanderu:** true, true. the Furling were the missing race in the stargate series everybody wanted to learn more about. I'm still trying to make them as the guys behind the curtains, though, and as the still mysterious race with a strange behavior.

 **random Norwegian:** the combat armor can be hermetically sealed, and it has a transparent, opaque, visor showing their faces. Not the same thing. To compare, the Mark III is around 40 pounds, very lightweight. the Power Armor, depending on the model is around 400 pounds heavy, and don't ask the person in it to crouch or to pretend to be a gymnast. He won't fool anyone.

The planet builders, I believe you are referring to the people who made that obelisk, probably won't be mentioned in the story, Not much is known from the SGU, so no point in going there. Still, a lot of the story isn't written yet, especially about the Destiny portion. I'm still working on it and changes in ideas are possible and even probable.

There will be mention about some very weak mental abilities, the beginning of it, but not much more than that.

 _ **Thanks to my beta, and hope you'll enjoy this chapter as well.**_

* * *

As he strolled down the streets of New York, Jack thought how it was such a rare occasion for him to be doing it. It certainly wasn't something he could do every time he desired. It was bothering him greatly that, in order for the High Councilor of the Terran Federation to do something so bold as to walk in the middle of New York, he first needed to persuade the rest of the Council and his considerable security that there was no threat they couldn't anticipate or prevent in time, no matter where he decided to go on Earth. In addition, in the way he was doing it right now, he needed to wear a different _face_ by means of a very useful mimicking device, as well as to have a very powerful personal shield that could probably save him from anything short of a direct hit from a Naquadria enhanced nuke. For him to take a simple stroll on Earth all this was forced upon him, in addition to having the always-vigilant eyes of those above him on some of the many warships in orbit that on first sign of trouble could and would beam him away without any prior warning.

Daniel, who was also wearing someone else's face, was currently marveling at the scenery playing around him. Not only were there many changes, but the man had lately – and against his will - spent a couple of very unpleasant months on an alien world while being chased by some very nasty creatures bent on using him for breakfast. Jack had suggested for the both of them to take a stroll on Earth, to relax, knowing that Daniel would very much appreciate it. Since it has become impossible for them to have a normal social life, one in which they could freely mingle with people without having a squad of power-armored marines surrounding them and ready to scare to death anyone who saw them, any chance they got for a change of venue was well received. With so many guards in tow, they would usually lose the will to set foot on Earth, which was probably why the security chief was forcing such measures on them. Yet, from time to time, they both wanted to leave the still unfinished, orbiting starbase or the island Terrania, their de facto home.

Earth was changing, and it was doing it at a frightening pace. A study had shown that even one generation ago such changes wouldn't have been accepted so readily. The ability of the new generations, already accustomed to quick changes, was the reason why alien technologies and knowledge could so easily be introduced and without major refusals. He understood all too well that fact, as he was one of those still living fossils with the problem of accepting new things so promptly. Only his direct exposure to alien worlds in the last fifteen years and his general easy going nature when confronted with the new and unknown had resulted in him adapting to this strange and constantly changing world. A world where people around you walked down the street, yet they were not looking at you or anyone else but rather were connected with some eyepiece to a virtual world full of information and wonders his generation never dreamt of even being possible. Maybe it would have been even stranger for him to see people not paying attention to anything around them except for the bare minimum in order not to trip or fall if he himself didn't constantly use the construct Liam had left him with the updated Repository of Knowledge. It now included everything Liam had worked on, parts that were taken from Atlantis' database, and whatever the Asgard had given Liam to add so that the gap created in the past five million years in the Alterran history could somewhat be filled. There was so much interesting data in it that even he could easily spend half a day perusing through it without noticing the passage of time, or by getting bored. It wasn't so strange that he used it so much since the only database in existence that had more knowledge was the one in the Clava Thessara Infinitas, which has been declared too dangerous and too big to ever leave the pocket universe. Only Argos had direct access to it, and trough him, the scientists inside the pocket universe. A complete download would fry anyone's brain anyhow, and sifting through it one topic at a time was a fool's errand.

"What do you think about this?" He asked Daniel while pointing to the various people who were buzzing around them, as it seemed, completely aimlessly.

Daniel glanced at Jack, clearly uncertain on what he was asking him. He then glanced at the people buzzing around. "Well, even after only three measly months spent away from Earth I am able to discern changes. For one, there are more and more people driving these things. Or maybe the better wording would be that they are being driven by these things, the same as other transportation devices."

Jack was also looking at the same guy on some contraption with only one seat in it. The contraption had an AI capable of driving on its own to the desired destination. On any intersection in the city, a person could call one of these moving wheelchairs and in a minute, one would show up. The person's eyepiece would automatically synchronize with it and he or she could input the desired destination. The _wheelchair_ would then begin its voyage on a prescribed lane.

Besides that, more and more people were using public transportation in the form of automated buses, currently the only vehicles capable of floating in mid-air, hence capable of crossing vast distances in a very short time. It had been decided that allowing cars to be manufactured that could freely fly inside the city limits would quickly turn into a complete nightmare. It was decided that only public transportation should be allowed the use flying cars, which greatly minimized the possibility of collision, congestion and gave a city like New York another way for people to move quickly without the need to own or use a personal vehicle.

"I still can't get used to seeing vehicles flying in the middle of New York. Those buses or shuttles -whatever you want to call them - I know they are useful, but still, they make me anxious when I see one fly over my head," Jack added, while watching as one of them just passed above him. It wasn't big. It probably had room for no more than thirty passengers.

"I know. I have the same feeling, but with the currently available energy capacitors and the antigrav units that Earth is now capable of producing thanks to us, this is the most logical next step in public transportation. With an antigrav unit installed, they only need small electric air-turbines to push the thing in the wanted direction, almost identical to an airship. The important thing though is that it doesn't need a combustion engine to move. With the gifted fusion reactors giving countries around the world all the energy they could possibly need, clean and available at a negligible cost, such methods of transportation have become so cheap that a city like New York has opted to introduce it completely free of charge."

"I'm just glad that Earth has decided to, at least for now, _not_ allow flying cars to be flown once they enter a metro area. Can you imagine thousands of flying cars already owned by individuals zigzagging between buildings at high speeds? It would quickly turn into many piles of rubble all around the city," Jack added knowingly. He would probably be one of those doing it too if allowed by the law of course.

"I hear taxi companies are pushing for them to be allowed to buy flying cars and use them inside the city, but New York isn't budging," Daniel added promptly.

"Of course not! Once they get a license, it is only a matter of time before others, like Uber or limo companies, start asking for the same. Besides, they are nearing the end of the construction of the first few teleportation platforms with a set destination. Those are going to be big enough for up to fifty people to use, in an instant traveling to some other platform in the city. As more and more of those are introduced, the need for other transportation methods will greatly diminish."

"They are pushing it as far as it can go, don't they? New York was always the city with the smallest percentage of people using personal cars to move around in the whole of the US. But with these new and convenient ways of transportation, they are trying to get below 15% of people owning a car while also diminishing the average time it takes for people to travel from home to work or other traveling people do often. This city will be a model for all other cities with a similar traffic problem."

"Still, doesn't it appear to you that people on Earth are too ready to accept all these new gadgets coming out? Look at people around us," Jack said, giving a good glance at the people around them. "Don't you think they are becoming too connected to technology and gadgets? I mean, can people at least enjoy the morning coffee and their walk to work before connecting with those eyepieces to the internet or before starting to make calls or chat with someone far away? I've never seen any other alien race behaving like this, and that includes very advanced races that possess even more advanced tech, like the Asgard, Alterran or Tollans."

"True. I must admit that it looks like humans like to be connected with their various gizmos, but, Jack, don't take what you see here as the norm of human behavior on Earth. Go to Europe and you'll see people still taking their siesta every day without any gadgets powered. You'd still see people sitting in the open on a terrace, slowly sipping coffee while reading a newspaper. And they'll do it for half or even a full hour every day! New York has always been a frantic city," Daniel explained. "However, it is true that we are much more impatient as a race than the Alterrans ever were. Which could easily be explained actually."

"It can? How?" Jack asked, not sure.

"Because the Alterra have a lifespan of hundreds if not thousands of years. They are the only known race that, at least in theory, can live forever. It is difficult for them to live more than a thousand years because of the mental component needed in order to remain young, the need to do specific meditation focused on rejuvenating their body and mind. However, with such a lifespan it should be normal for such a race to take its time and do things more slowly. As opposed to humans who lived for only eighty years on average and want to achieve as much as possible in that time."

"Are you saying that, once _genesis_ is completed and the normal lifespan of people on Earth is more than tripled, that then people on Earth will change the way they live and take it more slowly?" Jack asked, uncertain. He wasn't a good candidate to test Daniel's theory, since he always took it easy, even while his lifespan was that of a normal human.

"I'm sure of it. Look at me for example. I'm already taking it more slowly since I don't feel the pressure anymore because of having another twenty or thirty productive years at the most. Let's call them my remaining prime years to accomplish something meaningful."

"If you say so," Jack said, unsure of his friend's statement. "I haven't noticed any major changes in your overly dense schedule, though."

"That is related to my work as a Council member, which can't be helped. But as you can see, I'm not itching to go on some new archeological dig anytime soon. I'm perfectly fine leaving that for when I retire from the Council since my lifespan is not such a limiting factor anymore."

"Hey! Speaking of the Genesis Project. Do you think Hayes will want to talk to us about that?" Jack asked as they just rounded the corner. Five more minutes and they'll be in front of the United Nations' building, their destination. He glanced at the many police officers around them who were securing, as it looked, a quite large area around the United Nations against protestors and even some... _greater_ threats. It has been this way since some offices inside the building were given to the new Earth's government to be used. One of those was the office of Henry Hayes to be used when he wasn't in Geneva.

"You mean about the pace at which it is going?" Daniel asked.

"Yeah," Jack replied with a frown. "I know it is creating massive problems on Earth. That's also the only reason that comes to mind why Hayes would want to talk to us on such a short notice."

"There could be other reasons, though. As Earth's Secretary of Extraterrestrial Affairs, most dealings with the Terran Federation go through him. In no small part his appointment to such a position was because of his close relationship with you, so calling both of us isn't very strange actually. As far as reasons go, I haven't heard of some massive change in the situation on Earth regarding the unrests related to _genesis_. I'm not sure if he'd call us just for that reason alone either," Daniel replied, clearly thinking of what else could be the reason if the Genesis Project wasn't it.

"Still, in three years, around sixty million people have gone through _genesis_ , which is only a tiny drop in a very vast ocean if you take Earth's entire population into account. Currently, we have 1,864 devices capable of manipulating the human DNA - I know because I just checked - and almost nine thousand medical experts and support staff working around the clock. Due to other priorities, I don't think we can increase the number of people going through the procedure by much," Jack added, thinking how it wasn't easy to change billions of people when each individual needed days of constant care in order to be certain that nothing went wrong. Their safety was always a priority.

"Not to mention that each individual might need more than one treatment and we have to keep them monitored for at least three days to be certain no problems have arisen during the transition period."

"And priority goes to those who get the Terran citizenship with the specific goal of going to another planet or to join us as an active member of the military or some other branch of our federal government. Especially those going on Haven. The planet has such a strong gravity that only those who went through the change can live there and actually enjoy the experience," Jack added, remembering the effect Haven's gravity had on him. As an Alterran, he could survive in such environment better than most, but far from retaining fond memories of the experience. The modified Terrans would be much better suited to live on such a planet than an Alterran ever would.

"I think the bigger issue is that, with the glacial progress and with the procedure having been deemed too dangerous for people older than 65, there are many who have started realizing that there's a good chance of them reaching a point where they won't receive the treatment in time. On the other hand, there are tons of people on Earth who got in their heads that what _genesis_ is doing is unnatural and therefore must be stopped at all cost," Daniel added, clearly frustrated how things were going.

"Go figure. Both sides want the exact opposite, and yet, both sides are in the wrong."

"How do you mean?"

"Well, both sides think only of themselves, of their wellbeing or of their personal beliefs. Yet, none of them is thinking of what's best for us as a race to reach the next chapter. Let's call it the Golden Age, like what the Alterra and Asgard have reached a long time ago. One side is pressuring for _genesis_ to proceed faster so that they could get the treatment and survive longer, while the other side is ready to bomb the United Nations in order to stop the project because it is in opposition to their personal belief system."

"So, you're saying that they should be thinking of what's the best path to choose in order for all Terrans to prosper, regardless of personal needs or beliefs. A tall order you ask of people, Jack, I can tell you that much. Nobody is that selfless."

"You say nobody is that selfless, yet by thinking of the prosperity of all Terrans, they themselves are included in said prosperity, which means they wouldn't necessarily have to be selfless to think that way."

"In theory, yes, but who thinks so far into the future? And how many people even possess the required knowledge to come to the right decision and vision on what's best for our entire race?"

"True-true. Yet, I think Hayes called us here exactly to talk about the problems _genesis_ is causing. I think he wants us to raise the age limit and at least double the number of people undergoing the procedure," Jack replied, predicting what this meeting will be all about.

"There are more than twenty thousand patients on Terrania at any given time. How are we going to double our capacity? Where are we going to find the right personnel to tend to double the number of patients we have right now? Not to mention the need to speed up the selection process from candidates from all around the world, which is no small task at all," Daniel asked, clearly frustrated.

"Even if we do that, it will only double the number of people, which is still not enough to make a difference. It will yield to forty million people going through the treatment each year. And for the age limit we can maybe change it so that, instead of outright forbidding the procedure for people older than 65, we could state that those people need to pass a physical and they need to sign some documents acknowledging that the procedure could result in unforeseen complications or in some cases even death. This is the best we can do so that people keep in good physical shape hoping it will be enough, up until the time when their turn comes. Yet, there is still too little to think that the Genesis Project will complete inside a decade or so. Even with the constant increase in personnel and infrastructure, we predict it will take around fifty more years to complete."

Jack was frustrated. It is true that he didn't think it through when the proposal for the Genesis Project first came on his desk. He didn't think of how much work there is to change billions of people, one individual at a time. He knew there would be those who wouldn't like it and therefore would find reasons to fight the change. Frankly, he couldn't understand why people were bitching so much about _genesis._ The thing didn't make your head grow or make you glow in the dark. It simply put you slightly higher on the evolutionary ladder, allowing an individual to easier adapt to more hostile environments like that on Haven, and it slightly improved your cognitive abilities, yet still far from those of the Alterra.

Nevertheless, in his mind, he somehow thought that the whole process of changing Earth's population would last five or maybe ten years at the most. In such a short time, no matter what kind of trouble arose they could deal with it somehow. In a matter of a few short years, more people would have gone through the process than those who hadn't yet, which would have put any talks about discontinuing the project to rest.

Instead, he now knew that for decades the number of people who went through the procedure would be in the minority. Even worse, almost all of those that went through the procedure were people who got jobs on Asura, Haven, Terra Nova or Tollana and therefore went to live there with their whole families in tow, no matter how numerous those were. They were all fast-forwarded for the procedure. It meant that only a small percentage of people who went through the process were remaining on Earth, and among those were all the high officials in the new Earth's government. The system also discriminated against those that committed some felony in their past, be it big or small, it did not matter. Committing a felony puts you at the bottom of the approval list, which was around seven billion members long.

When everything was put together, it was giving a very grim picture of the immediate future in which it was easy to identify the kind of people that were becoming more restless with each passing day. Those against it, mostly because it went against their beliefs, and those who wanted it because of the gained longevity, yet were so low on the list that would most certainly die before their turn finally came, and the latter people were mostly criminals or suspected criminals flagged by some law enforcement agency from somewhere around the world. With the Terrans, there was no joking around either. Lie detectors were employed when somebody asked for Terran citizenship in order to find work on other planets and citizenship was being recommended if they agreed to go through _genesis_.

It was a time when the Terran Federation needed to be resolute in their actions in order to minimize the chances of any internal strife from arising. It meant that the Terran Federation didn't make many friends among people who thought of their methods as almost oppressive, and among those were certainly the entitled. Those with money and connections. Such people meant nothing to the Terrans and had no power to influence the selection process on who was next on the list. Yet, such powerful people usually had expectations of being treated differently from others, even when they were older than sixty-five or had done something that would flag them by some government agency.

Off course, the Terran Federation was located on Terrania, on the starbase above the island, and on other federal holdings located on other planets, which meant that some big shot on Earth had no way of reaching them, much less being able to influence their decision-making process. It meant that people in Earth's government were taking the brunt of those people's ire, which, for the most part, meant Hayes.

Jack entered the United Nations building in which Hayes had an office as Earth's Secretary of Extraterrestrial Affairs. A clerk promptly asked him for his ID. He gave the card to him. The image was matching his current appearance, with the name Bobby Fischer written on it. He then went through a scanner that was promptly and thoroughly fooled by the holo-emitter responsible for the change in his appearance. He quickly passed through before picking his belongings. Daniel followed only seconds later, he as well without raising any flags. It was decided that they would use fully valid yet false identities when coming on Earth and that they would keep their true identities hidden until the very last moment, which was until entering Hayes office. Nobody liked it, but both Jack and Daniel wanted to be able to see their own planet for at least half an hour instead of simply being beamed inside Hayes' office, with no chance of meeting anybody who wasn't Hayes.

The elevator deposited both of them on the wanted floor. A short walk and once more giving their IDs was enough for them to be ushered into Hayes' office without much delay. They both deactivated their holo-emitters, finally showing their true appearance.

"Jack! Daniel!" Hayes said as he walked around his desk in order to greet them.

"Henry," Jack said as he squeezed Hayes' hand in greetings. "How long has it been? A month?"

Hayes was thinking. "That long huh? It's possible. I know that I haven't seen this guy here for at least three months," Hayes said as he now squeezed Daniel's hand, giving a short-lived smile before changing his expression into a more somber one. "I was sorry to hear about your misfortune, Daniel, but I'm happy now to see you're finally back with us safe and sound. How's Vala doing?"

"She bounced back to her usual self after only three days involving a lot of partying and spending money on Earth. Mostly on clothing, I think," Daniel replied.

"She's the same as always," Hayes replied, before pointing at the two armchairs standing in front of his desk. "Please, have a seat."

"Don't mind if we do," Jack muttered while taking one of the chairs. Daniel sat on the other one.

"So, you must be asking yourselves why I called you here today," Hayes inquired.

"The Genesis Project comes to mind," Jack spat back immediately.

"You're not wrong," Hayes replied, with a little hesitation. Clearly, there was more than just that particular reason. "As you know, in the last three months, the number of organized protests has risen to two hundred worldwide, of which seventeen turned violent. Also, there have been five terrorist attacks this month alone."

"We are aware, yet, we have no idea on what we can do to change the situation. I mean, speeding up the process can go only so far and there's not much else the federal government can do-" Jack said, abruptly stopping as he remembered something. "Wait! You're not thinking of-" Jack asked.

"No, no, that would be too extreme. Earth's government is not going to call the Federation to qualm the unrests. We are not there yet," Hayes responded promptly. "And I'm confident we will never get there."

"Ah, good-good. For a moment there I thought you wanted us to intervene. We don't even have a proper federal police yet, and involving the Navy or the TIA would be too extreme, and messy," Jack concluded.

"Right now what I'm asking is for the Federation to work on making the whole Genesis Project go as smoothly as possible and maybe to think of increasing the age limit," Hayes explained. "And before you say no, I know that there are studies showing how even people older than that could easily go through the process without any side effects."

"Sure, but we are going to have to deal with the repercussions if somebody dies during the procedure," Jack retorted. "You know very well that those people against the project are waiting just for something like that in order to inflame even more people. the next moment you see a ten-year-old girl crying her eyes out in front of every newsgroup because her grandpa died during the procedure."

"As I said before, you do what you can without risking anything. I also know that an increase of a hundred percent is a lot to ask, yet still too little to make a real difference."

"Okay? So, why are we here then?" Jack asked, puzzled. Hayes had asked practically nothing of them except the usual do-what-you-can crap.

"Beside the unrests due to the Genesis Project that we all knew would be controversial and risky to implement, yet we all agreed the benefits greatly outweighed the downsides, overall Earth is in a great place. The only way it could be better is if the devastation the Vargas caused didn't occur and for the few countries like North Korea that are still refusing to join the rest of the world on this next chapter of our journey to understand that it is time for Earth to come together. However, with proper monitoring and by pushing the right buttons at the right times, we think there won't be any surprises from those countries and that eventually, they'll join the rest of the world since, in the end, they simply won't have a choice in the matter.

"The knowledge you have given Earth is also enough to keep our scientists and companies busy for the next several decades, even without any new updates to the already received and massive package. Clean and cheap energy, transportation technologies that are making life much easier, food production capable of reaching even the most impoverished regions of the planet, and a plethora of knowledge that will allow Earth to prosper and progress without the risk of an economic collapse or of any major setbacks. Additionally, and probably the most important thing, the change in our lifespan that nobody could have even dreamt of just a few years back. That is the current situation and prediction for the future of Earth, which is a very bright prediction in my informed opinion," Hayes concluded his little speech.

Jack turned to glance at Daniel, unsure of where this was all going, because, somewhere, it _must_ be going. He just didn't know where. "So, what you're telling us is that everything's peachy?"

"Exactly!" Hayes replied, smiling. "Everything is peachy… except for the little problem that no private citizen or company can build and then use a spaceship in order to travel freely through space."

Jack knew from the moment Hayes put that big smile of his that something big was coming. Something that made him want to be sick today and unable to participate in this meeting he was now very much embroiled into with no chance of escape. Jack slowly turned, noticing that Daniel's face was expressing the same sentiment. It was the expression of fear. The time to have _that_ conversation has finally come and he didn't know how to get out of it. No wonder Hayes didn't ask for anything concerning the troubles they were having. He was going to ask for the big one, about the Federation's white whale no one was supposed to talk about. "I must say, I didn't know you can put such a smile before asking for something like that. It sent chills down my spine. A feeling I didn't sense in quite some time."

"Well, I was the President of the United States for two terms. I learned a few things on how to deliver big requests properly so that the other side, let's say, is disarmed for a moment."

"Yes, well, you accomplished that perfectly," Daniel contributed.

"Still, performance aside, you know what you're asking right?" Jack asked, squinting slightly.

"Of course I do," Hayes added, again putting the same smile on. "I'm asking for what we were promised."

Again, chills went down Jack's spine while taking another blow. He had to admit it. Hayes was good. It made him realize that when it comes to being a politician both he and Daniel were mere beginners, at least when compared to the likes of Hayes. "Again with that smile!"

"I know what was promised, but you must realize in what situation we are in," Daniel continued, clearly deciding to take the initiative from Jack. "Everything that was discussed before the formation of the Terran Federation was only if the situation was favorable. We are now at war with an extremely dangerous enemy, with the result of having our entire star system littered with mines and other very dangerous devices meant to protect us from any alien incursion. The Terran Federation cannot have privately owned ships moving about at a time like this."

"I agree that this is no time for privateers to be flying around the galaxy," Hayes replied, again putting the same smile. "So, why don't you spring a nice Executive Order forbidding privateers from using spaceships in this perilous time of war, while at the same time you give us the promised knowledge allowing us to start building the first generation of commercial interstellar spaceships?"

If Jack weren't so healthy, he would probably get himself a heart attack at that exact moment. Hayes got them again with the Executive Order. Of course, forbidding privateers from using spaceships because it was too dangerous was in the Federal Council's power, not even very strange to be ordered in time of war. However, the Council was stalling, in truth, not wanting to give the necessary knowledge to build spaceships, and it was doing it for a good reason. When it came to the various law enforcement agencies the Terran Federation needed, they were falling far short. After three years, the Terran Federation still had no real force capable of policing Earth, their colonized planets and other holdings. It was a massive job and at least one agency at full capacity was needed, but the TBI (Terran Bureau of Investigation), the tentative name they were going with, right now barely had a few hundred people working in it, with almost no assets whatsoever.

Jack also knew that their situation wouldn't change anytime soon, as both resources and personnel were being funneled into the Terran military apparatus as soon as available in order to prepare for the massive clash they all knew was coming. However, this wasn't such a big problem since there was no way for any private citizen in the entire Terran Federation to leave the confines of a planet except by using a transport ship that belonged to the Terran Space Navy (TSN). The TBI wasn't needed because there was only a negligible chance of a crime being committed outside the jurisdiction of the planetary governments because there was no way to leave orbit unless under the watchful eye of the TSN personnel onboard one of their ships.

Nobody was foolish enough to try something criminal under such scrutiny.

Now instead, things were starting to unravel. Getting the necessary knowledge to build hyperdrives and spaceships capable of being used for mining, transport, or even as luxury boats for the rich and famous who wanted to pay top bucks in order to visit some crappy nebula in the middle of nowhere, was only the first necessary step in order to get what they wanted. Once ships were completed by corporations in droves from all of the planets in the Terran Federation, new demands would be asked of them to slowly lift the ban on travel. First, it would probably be for mining and similar stuff that can be automated to a high degree, hence putting only a small number of people in danger. Then, they were probably predicting that the war with the Vargas would lessen, at the very least in the Milky Way galaxy, at which point more requests would be sent to the Council so that travel was allowed more and more, and even for commercial purposes. All this would happen in maybe a year or a year and a half from the moment the Terran Federation released what was asked of them, yet both Jack and Daniel knew that in such a short time they would not be able to create the appropriate agencies needed to uphold the law and keep order on a Federal level.

"Jack, a promise is a promise and you know that the people who supported the creation of the Terran Federation asked for this particular concession from you. I know the Terran Federation would like for no private person to ever be able to leave the confines of the planet they live on unless under the scrutiny of the TSN, I get that, but I'm also certain that you're aware how unrealistic that wish is," Hayes continued after hearing no reply from either Jack or Daniel. "Also, if I'm to be frank with you, Jack, I'm not sure what about this makes you so worried."

Jack gave Daniel a glance, giving him a nod.

"It's because we cannot guarantee that the infrastructure and agencies needed to assure that laws are abided by will be ready when people start venturing into space," Daniel revealed what their true problem was.

"And not only a police force, customs or the necessary judicial system won't be ready. The needed TSN forces needed to quickly react in case of a ship in distress or the TIA that will have to keep a constantly watchful eye so that something _unwanted_ doesn't find its way back to Earth or some of the other planets through a privately-owned ship, like what happened with the Chinese and the Aschen…"

"Let me stop you right there, Jack," Hayes said, clearly having noticed that Jack was on the role. "I get that things are not perfect, but don't you think that you're panicking for no good reason? I mean, the way you are telling it, it seems that suddenly thousands of ships will explode forth from our planets like rabid dogs wanting nothing else than to cause mayhem everywhere they go."

"Well, I do think it will look more or less like that, yes," Jack replied, fully imagining what Hayes depicted, with crazed people on their ship's helm itching to find out what's out there.

"Of course, we know it won't be exactly like that, but you must realize, Henry, that the moment we remove all restrictions, companies will start fighting over resources that can be found in space, be it for mining or some other lucrative business that can be found in space," Daniel explained.

"And with these problems, we actually haven't even touched the big elephant in the room yet," Jack added.

"Which is?" Hayes asked.

"In order to have efficient hyperdrives, you need an efficient power source, which translates to building Naquadah fueled nuclear reactors," Jack explained. "Even on Earth private companies can't buy plutonium, yet you expect us to fuel Earth with an even more dangerous material."

Hayes looked pissed. "Jack, for some weird reason you think of me as the enemy here and you're making a fuss about things that are not a problem at all."

Jack blinked twice. He didn't have a clue where this was going. "I don't understand."

"I got nothing," Daniel added.

Hayes sighed. "I'm not asking you to do something that's against federal laws. If Naquadah is on the list of regulated substances, then you simply don't allow private companies to own or use it, or give any knowledge on how it can be used. In this particular case, you don't give information on how to build Naquadah fueled nuclear reactors. This will inevitably cause problems when building spaceships, probably forcing companies to utilize fusion reactors instead, or fission if Earth's government allows the use of fissile fuel that's available on Earth and that's not regulated by the Terran Federation like Naquadah is. It will probably delay the development of the first gen of Earth spaceships and instead of having thousands of them living orbit like, as you described, _rabid dogs_ after the restriction for space travel is lifted, you'll have many times less of them to worry about, isn't that right?" Hayes explained, this time giving a much more benevolent smile than the last few times. "As I've said before, today I'm only asking for what was promised, and nothing more. This means that what I want is for you to release the scientific theories necessary to develop hyperdrives, nothing more and nothing less."

Jack finally understood. Hayes was helping them. The man must have known what problems they were having and he was asking for the bare minimum that was promised so that he could tell people on Earth that they got it, while in truth, it would give them some major headaches. Jack knew that it wasn't impossible to build interstellar ships with working hyperdrives even without the need for Naquadah, but the task wouldn't be an easy or cheap one to develop. Fusion reactors could be used, but the theory behind the current reactors used on Earth would need to be refined in order for the reactors to be able to work in space while also giving a high-power output even though much smaller and able to fit on ships. The fusion reactors used on Earth were very efficient and low maintenance, but they were built without thinking of their size since it wasn't important for something that was to be placed on the planet's surface.

Once designed, interstellar ships that use fusion reactors would inevitably be bigger and yet would give out much less power than if Naquadah reactors were used. Less power meant less speed, and bigger ships meant more money. Combined, it meant fewer companies would be able to readily build them or even want to. All this meant that instead of a year or of a year and a half, they could rather predict two or maybe even three years before the first commercial spaceships were ready, and then there wouldn't be thousands of them, but much fewer in need to be monitored by the Terran Federation.

In the end, Hayes was really trying to find a solution that satisfied everybody. It was a good thing they had him inside Earth's government. He wasn't sure if someone else would have been so considerate of the problems the Terran Federation was having. "So, we only need to give the basic theory behind hyperspace travel?"

Hayes smiled again. "Wasn't that what I asked for at the beginning of this meeting?"

"Yes, you did," Jack continued, quickly giving a glance at Daniel. "Of course, we will have to reconvene with the rest of the Council before we can give you a final answer, but I'm pretty sure that in, let's say, a month's time the Terran Federation will release the requested scientific papers."

"Of course, of course. I didn't think you'd be able to give me an answer on the spot. A month's time is more than acceptable for me," Hayes replied promptly. "Well, this finishes the formal portion of this meeting. Now we can relax a little and talk about whatever we want."

"Why do I have the feeling that we are the only ones that need to relax?" Jack continued.

"I too have the strange sensation that this entire meeting went exactly as you planned for it to go, Henry," Daniel added.

"Well, I'm glad to see that there are still a few things that I can teach you," Hayes replied. "Now, let us go off the record now. Can you tell me something about how things are really going out there? I mean, we have rumors and theories floating around, especially after the Vargas managed to strike a blow at Earth with those three missiles that hit Asia, and I know the Terran Federation is giving constant updates, but I also know that a lot is not being said for security reasons or in order to evade mass panic. So, what's the uncensored version of what we are facing? Strictly between us, of course."

Jack gave Daniel another glance, before sighing. "Well, if it's between the three of us here in this room, then the answer is, we are swimming in crap up to our noses, barely able to breathe. I mean Earth and our other holdings are safe for the time being, of that, we are certain of. The way we dealt with the attack on Earth, with the Vargas losing around two thousand ships, showed them that we won't go down easy. Also, the Vargas are currently pretty low on the number of high-end ships in this region of space, which gives us some breathing room. To us, but also the Jaffa and the other races in this galaxy as well.

"The problem lies in what is coming, and in the fact that as far as we know there's no end to it. We can't win against an enemy if we can't find where they come from. We don't even know their true strength. Like hard numbers of ships, planets - stuff like that - or what else they have in store for us. As far as I can tell, if we don't come up with some miraculous trump card, there's no way we can win. The most we can hope for is to somehow push the Vargas out of the Milky Way galaxy and then set up some kind of blockade to keep them out. However, even for that, I don't really know how we are going to accomplish it, and even less keep it that way indefinitely afterward," Jack explained, feeling frustration starting to rise in him.

"My point of view is the same, or maybe even worse," Daniel began explaining, probably by thinking of some recent memories. "I saw what the Vargas use as their foot soldiers and in a nutshell, it's ugly. Even without going into how efficient those things are in depopulating a planet of humans, we can quickly conclude that communication of any kind is not possible. Those Crabs are mindless killers, only doing it in order to feed, the Reapers are machines that are programmed to kill - hence no joy there either - and the last are the Hunters, which seems to be able of communicating with us, but they simply don't care for it. I think that _that_ race was the same even before meeting the Vargas. Hunters enjoying the thrill of the hunt and nothing else matters. Hence, no common ground with them can be found either."

"Even without more Vargas ships coming to the Milky Way galaxy, we will soon be overwhelmed by the Reapers," Jack continued. He was of the opinion that the Reapers were also a threat they need to pay more attention to.

"I thought the Reapers weren't such an opponent? I thought the Jaffa and the other human races were more than capable of dealing with them even on their own?" Hayes asked, mystified by this last revelation.

"Well, they are. For now, that is. The problem is that the Reapers are building in numbers and they are doing it without the need for any specific infrastructure. As more ships are built, they too begin replicating even more of themselves. Soon, there will be too many to deal with, no matter what technology we possess," Jack responded, again thinking how he really didn't like intelligent machines in general.

"The Vargas are not stupid. They are not thinking simply in terms of bringing a large fleet of very advanced ships to beat us. They are employing other means to achieve their goal, which probably is to cleanse the entire universe of any threat. In order to achieve that, swarming a galaxy with cheap machines can have the same outcome as by using the much more expensive and advanced ships the Vargas employee. Thinking of it, there is a greater chance of us finding a weapon capable of stopping the Vargas ships than finding a way to stop an opponent that grows exponentially, no matter how much weaker the individual units of the second opponent are," Daniel continued.

"Do we have a way to stop the Vargas ships at least, if not this machine menace?" Hayes asked.

"There are several theories we are working on and that could result in a weapon system capable of achieving that goal. The problem is that we don't have a clue when our research will yield any results," Daniel answered. "Now that I'm back after three months that I was missing, I can say that not much progress has been done in completing such a weapon."

"It's not the fault of the scientists working on the research either," Jack continued, predicting Hayes asking why they weren't getting any results. "The problem is that we are reaching the end of what it is possible and what's not, which is not strange at all. The Vargas can easily be construed as the ultimate enemy, with advanced tech smartly utilized. Their ships are meant to survive everything except the most destructive weapons that can be created. We are also not the only ones who are reaching the limits of our comprehension. Both the Alterrans and the Asgard are racking their brains trying to come up with the underlying theories we need in order to create the wanted systems and we are doing it with the knowledge brought from the ascended Alterrans by Argos. Without all that, we would never be thinking of building half of the systems we are trying to build at this moment. It is strange to say that the fact that we are working on almost impossible to understand theories is a good thing, and the thing that could save us in the end."

"Why are these theories being almost impossible to understand a good thing?" Hayes asked, clearly not following Jack's train of thought.

"Without the knowledge from the Ascended Alterrans, we wouldn't be able to even start working on some of the things we are trying to build at the moment, and from studying the Vargas ships there are strong indicators that the Vargas don't have access to the ascended knowledge we do. If they did, some things we found on their ships would have been built in a slightly different way simply because built that way would have increased the overall efficiency of their ships," Jack explained. It meant that the Vargas didn't have some of the knowledge necessary to work on the same type of weapons they were working on.

Hayes was thoughtful for quite a long time. "So, you're saying that only ascended beings could have learned some things no mortals ever could, and since the Vargas don't use that knowledge even after such a long time, possibly a span of even more than a billion years, then we have a chance of coming up with something that the Vargas can't."

"Exactly," Jack continued. "The entire research that is done in the pocket universe, the Clava Thessara Infinitas, is focused on creating things that the Vargas couldn't have conceived and maybe even more importantly, don't know that we can create them. This is our only chance to have an overwhelming advantage over them. A superior weapon and the element of surprise, since I'm certain that if given enough time, the Vargas would be able to counter whatever we invent and no matter with what knowledge. They are just that kind of enemy."

"Yet, you say that even if we somehow manage to build such advanced systems, be they meant as a weapon or some other system that increases the survivability of our ships, such still wouldn't be suitable for fighting the Reapers," Hayes responded.

"Exactly right," Jack continued. "In order to win against the Reapers, I think that high-end but at the same time also difficult to build weapon systems aren't the way to go,"

"Huh, that sucks," Hayes said, deflated. "Pardon my language."

"No, we agree completely. It does suck," Daniel replied promptly. "But, I think that Sam was on the right track on how to approach the Reapers' problem, so even there we have hope."

"Sam has an enormous amount of ideas on an even larger number of problems. Frankly, I'm not sure how her head doesn't simply explode under the pressure. To which idea are you referring too?" Jack asked.

"Well, she said that we should think of our galaxy as the body and the Reapers as a pathogen. In that case, nature tells us that the best way to win against such an enemy is to create _specific_ antibodies for that particular pathogen, antibodies only capable of tackling this specific threat. Sam says that this should be the optimal solution since the Reapers' greatest weakness is their lack of flexibility. They are as they are, unchanging in their appearance and behavior. This means that we should be able to build the perfect killing machine constructed with systems specifically built to fight them efficiently," Daniel explained.

"It makes sense and I think Sam's idea can show us the direction we need to go, yet, the difficult task of coming up with the blueprints for this perfect killing machine still remains unsolved. With all of our scientists already overtaxed with projects, we don't have many people to task with this one," Jack explained one part of the problem. "Also, even if we go with Sam's idea, we still have a big problem that we need to overcome. As opposed to how our body fights of a disease, we do not have the ability to flood the whole galaxy with killing machines. A galaxy is simply too big for that to be a possibility."

"I see we are still far from finding a way to push the Vargas out of the Milky Way galaxy," Hayes stated, more to himself than to anyone else. "Well, at least there are some promising possibilities. That's something, right?"

Jack didn't exactly know how to respond to that. He knew they were not giving Hayes the answers he wanted to hear. The man probably wanted to hear that real progress was being made and that a resolution to this conflict was if not fast approaching then at least somewhere on the horizon. Yet, if he responded in such a way, that would be nothing but a lie. It was true there was a chance of finding a magic bullet that could end the war in a year's time; after all, they possess knowledge not even the enemy had. However, optimistically thinking that this magic bullet is so close to being developed can be a very dangerous way of thinking.

"Well, there's also the chance of help coming from some other place. We shouldn't forget that Liam's out there. Doing who knows what, but certainly something that is messing with the Vargas. Maybe once he comes back he'll have important information and maybe even allies that can help us. After all, the Vargas are the enemy of every sentient race in the galaxy. There should be a few races left that can support us in our fight and that have a grudge against them."

"I agree. The mere fact that the Vargas haven't sent an overwhelming force our way suggests that they have other problems they need to deal with. Maybe Liam or some other race is giving them a headache," Daniel said, adding some optimism into an otherwise pretty grim conversation. Not everything was as black as they had been making it sound.

"True," Hayes replied, still thoughtful for some reason. "Still, I think it is a good thing these facts I've heard today are not spread throughout the planet. I think that after the attack eight months ago, the one that regrettably took millions of lives in Asia, people need all the optimism they can get. And getting the news that we are actually losing ground to the Vargas and that we currently have no idea on how to end this war would have a very bad impact on people."

It was true that the damage in Asia done by the Vargas was a big blow to Earth. It was the second time something like that happened. The first time was after Ba'al had managed to bring two Ha'tak while Earth was undefended. Still, the fact that the Vargas lost two thousand ships in the attack and that only three out of thousands of missiles had actually made it inside Earth's orbit, made the tragedy sound like an overwhelming victory for the good guys. It was still a shock, but far smaller than after what Ba'al had done to Earth. In that instance, millions of people lost their lives while the enemy lost only two meager ships. Combined with the fact that, at the time, people didn't know about aliens or that the governments knew about their existence but decided to keep it secret, the two incidents had different optics attached to them. All in all, the battle fought not so long ago left people with the sense that they were protected, rather than the sense that they were exposed to enemy incursions. Because of it, keeping an optimistic spin to the news Earth was receiving was even more important now.

Jack's earpiece chirped. "What is it?"

" _Sir, your next appointment is in fifteen minutes,_ " Jack heard Walter's voice saying.

"Thank you, Walter. We are finishing up here anyway," Jack responded through the earpiece before disconnecting.

"It seems our time's up," Daniel understood what was going on after hearing Jack's reply. "It really was a short visit."

"That it was," Jack added. "At least we were able to take a walk and see some of the many changes happening on Earth."

"If you have some free time, let's schedule a proper tour of Earth so that you can see all the changes that are happening around the world," Hayes responded. "Strolling through a few streets in the middle of New York isn't bad, but far from enough to get the whole picture of what Earth's becoming."

"You're right about that," Jack responded. "I'll have to ask Walter when I have enough free time for a longer visit."

Jack and Daniel got up on their feet. It was time to go back to their daily routine. After shaking hands with Hayes, Jack contacted Walter again, asking to be beamed away. It didn't take long for the beaming ray to envelope both him and Daniel and whisk them away.

* * *

 _ **Thank you for reading. Please leave a review if you feel like it.**_


	9. Gathering Intel

**Author's note:** Happy Easter! Well, that about covers it. Let's move to the Q &A now.

 **Q &A**

 **mrazab1994:** I did write many goodies in the following five or so chapters. the bad part is that it is all still in the first draft stage, still in need of some major editing. But, there are many new things the Terrans have developed.

 **Arekanderu:** Well. it will be a bit bigger than a virus. It will have a similar effect as antibodies attacking viruses. I just need to find the right time to write about it.

 **Random Norwegian:** Well, I was planning it to be the same as Baylon One, except the tech used in it, is eons ahead. Let's say around ten kilometers tall mushroom and leave it at that.

 **ZhaWarudo:** I'm fully aware of the many mistakes made during the writing of the story. However, this has turned into a story with more than a million words total. It is now not easy to go back and with a toothcomb try to clean the mistakes made. there's also the point that while doing that, I can't be writing the next chapter, so... As said in the PM, Vargas armor and shield are capable of beating phase shifting technology. Hope this answers your dilemma.

 _ **Thanks to my beta. Hope everybody enjoys this chapter.**_

* * *

As the doors parted ways, Rak'nor hastily slipped onto the ship. Immediately upon entry, he received the different sense he had felt barely a few times before. Even half a decade later, after the Jaffa had been freed from the oppression of the Goa'uld, they still needed to learn how to do things differently. The Goa'uld were egomaniacs who cared only for themselves and ways in which to fill their incredibly long life with amusement, no matter how repulsive their conduct to others seemed. Rak'nor knew that the Goa'uld thought of themselves as gods and of every other sentient race in existence as nothing more than ants. Yet, in his opinion, there were many indicators that, in fact, showed the Goa'uld were complete morons.

The Goa'uld that had designed the Ha'tak vessel seemed to prove that point very well, and the other Goa'uld that agreed on using the design afterward and for such a long time, with no meaningful improvements, seemed to confirm it.

It took quite some convincing for the Jaffa to realize how wrong the design of the Ha'tak truly was. Of course, for egomaniacs like the Goa'uld, having a throne on the bridge was simply a necessity. Also, pompous consoles used to control the large vessel also needed to be imposing. No Goa'uld would ever want for a Jaffa pilot or tactical officer to sit comfortably while serving on the Pel'tak. They needed to stand firm in front of their god, sometimes for endless hours if needed be. Of course, the slight problem with that was that during a battle it wasn't uncommon for the Jaffa operating the console to fly like a doll every time the ship sustained a strong blow. It didn't make any of the self-proclaimed gods think that maybe, just maybe, losing the ability to control all of the ship's systems at such a crucial and above all very perilous moment because your pilot had just smashed into a wall and was far away from the console, could be the main cause for the consequent defeat or even destruction of the ship. The Goa'uld lord sitting in his throne would then proceed to obscenely curse the Jaffa pilot who dared fly away from his post. As if the Jaffa somehow had to have an inertial dampener stuck up his mikta in order to glue him to his post, even under extreme battle conditions.

Rak'nor would like to say that the Jaffa were smarter than the average Goa'uld was, but their conduct since being freed from their oppressors in many ways suggested otherwise. It took five long years of constant nagging from a few enlightened Jaffa like Teal'c and Bra'tac under Terran directions for their leadership to approve the changes to the layout of the Pel'tak. No more consoles that forced Jaffa to stand like statues for endless hours and no more single console as the only means of operating the majority of the ship's systems, except maybe for the ship's weapons since those had always been of specific importance to the Goa'uld and therefore always needed a separate operator. For some reason, the Goa'uld thought that having a single Jaffa having to worry about piloting the vessel, navigational data, watching over the short and long range sensors, thinking about the ship's secondary systems, shields, damage control, power control and so on and so on, up until deciding if doors should be closed or opened, was something expected to easily be done by one single individual. Instead, today's Ha'tak had five separate consoles manned by five Jaffa specifically trained for their post and who were comfortably seated and strapped so that even if something disruptive happened to the artificial gravity, they wouldn't float away from their posts like idiots. There was no ego-pumping throne either, but instead a comfortable chair and countless monitors for the person in command to easily get all relevant data at a mere glance, crucial to make the right decision in the shortest possible time. After all, this could mean the difference between victory and defeat.

As Rak'nor sat in the command chair, holographic displays on both sides sprang to life, immediately showing a plethora of data. With these monitors readily available at a glance, he easily knew where they were and when they were going to reach their destination. There was also a list showing if there was something that needed his immediate attention. The list was currently empty, as everything was in perfect order. He didn't even have to ask any of the Jaffa on the bridge to know that.

Still, it wasn't a bad thing to speak to his own crew from time to time, regardless.

"Have the long-range sensors detected any other vessel traveling through hyperspace?" Rak'nor asked the sensors officer who was seated in front of him, slightly on his left.

"No, commander. The sensors haven't detected any noise indicative of such a possibility," the Jaffa replied.

No wonders there. It was the most advanced component the enemy had on their vessels. One that even the Ancients or Asgard couldn't develop with such efficiency. It didn't matter if it were Vargas ships, Hunter ships or Reapers. They all had the same stealth system capable of canceling out any subspace noise the installed hyperdrive produced during travel. It gave them an incredible advantage, being able to drop unnoticed or travel across the vastness of the galaxy without being detected by even the most advanced of races. Without the stealth system, the Reapers couldn't have become such a nuisance since the Second Great Alliance would simply continue disseminating satellites capable of detecting the hyper-wake created by all ships until all important sectors of the galaxy were completely covered. They could easily build early warning systems near important star systems, giving them the needed time to prepare for an incursion or even be able to locate where the Reapers were building more of themselves. The Vargas stealth system was giving them many headaches in this wretched war, and on this mission, it was introducing an uncertainty factor that Rak'nor did not like. Because of the stealth system, he couldn't be certain if there were more enemies nearby ready to enter the fray when least expected.

Still, there were many races these days in these parts capable of traveling through hyperspace, and this mission would be best carried out without any outside interference, no matter if it was a friend or a foe.

"Returning to normal space in thirty seconds, Commander," the pilot informed in a professional tone of voice.

Rak'nor said nothing. He simply continued watching the frontal view that was much bigger than anything any previous Ha'tak model had. This was the latest upgrade to the ship, yet they had decided to still call the vessel a Ha'tak type IV, the same as its predecessor, mostly because no Jaffa wanted to call it a type V if there were no direct changes in the vessel's offensive or defensive capabilities. They all concluded unanimously that changing the bridge, even though doing so could have increased the ship's overall efficiency, was still not enough to change the ship's type from four to five. There were plans for the next generation of Ha'tak, mostly by additionally changing the internal layout and some improvements to the reactors, but those plans were moving slowly, as even now they already knew that the changes were such that could not be applied to current Ha'tak vessel. Only newly built Ha'tak would be of type V.

On the frontal display, hyperspace was suddenly replaced with the darkness of normal space. As the view slowly rotated, a still distant and tiny blue star entered into view. His monitor chirped. There was a notification informing him the sensors have detected something of importance.

"The sensors have detected anomalous energy readings in the nearest asteroid field sixty light-seconds from our current position," the sensors officer informed him of the same thing as what one of his monitors was being displayed. "Commander, do you want us to use active scanning for improved resolution?"

Active scanning of a certain region of space gave a many times more detailed picture of what was causing the anomalous energy readings of what the passive sensors have detected, yet too weak to identify clearly. The problem with active scanning was that it was easily detectable by any race advanced enough to have at least passive subspace sensors, which was all spacefaring races. Still, on this mission knowing what was there was more important than being stealthy. Not to mention that a Ha'tak wasn't a very stealthy ship, to begin with. Even without the use of active scanning, whoever was there would soon detect their ship no matter what they did if they hadn't already. "Do it."

It took almost a minute for the received data from the active scanning to be processed, correlated and finally correctly interpreted by the ship's computer. "As we learned from the scout, the scanning is confirming the presence of a Reaper mothership in the scanned asteroid field. The anomalous energy readings are mostly coming from the construction yard currently processing ore to use in building a second mothership and more of the smaller Reapers."

Rak'nor processed what the Jaffa said while looking at one of the monitors showing even more detailed data on what was present in the not so distant asteroid field. It wasn't a clear picture what he was seeing, but it was enough to deduce that the second mothership was two-thirds completed. All this wasn't anything strange, or new. The Reapers simply operated in such fashion. A mothership would enter an uninhabited system and would find an asteroid field with the needed materials. It would then start mining and constructing, first the smaller Reapers and afterward the second mothership. It was the reason why dealing with the Reapers was such a pain in the mikta since they could tap into resources present in abundance in any of the billions of suitable star systems in the entirety of the Milky Way galaxy. There was no way to monitor them all, no matter how many scouts they had. Yet, on this particular occasion, luck was on their side as two days ago one of their scouts had stumbled upon this unremarkable system. It was an opportunity to get on the offensive, instead of simply waiting for the Reapers to make the first move.

"The Reapers are on the move. All craft except for the mothership are on an intercept course with us," the same Jaffa added.

There was no question now if they had or hadn't been discovered. Rak'nor sighed. It was time to go to work. The reason why they were here today. "It seems the mothership's AI has decided that we are an opponent they can take on. Divert all auxiliary power to the shield and bring all weapons online. We are going to battle."

The distance between the Ha'tak and the swarm of approaching Reapers was slowly diminishing. Rak'nor knew that the smallest and medium sized Reapers were no more than a nuisance. Only the biggest ones were tricky. Unfortunately, it appeared that many of the incoming Reapers present in this barren system were of the unwanted, latter type. In time, and if in enough numbers, the large type could penetrate even the resilient shield of a vessel like a Ha'tak IV. The Ha'tak also wasn't the ideal ship for fighting Reapers as it had a massive disadvantage. Its maneuverability compared to the Reapers was many times lower and the ship had many heavy plasma cannons meant for use against tougher but also slower capital ships. In the end, only the smaller plasma cannons had any real chance of hitting the diminutive and wanton Reapers.

As it had happened countless times before, after the Reapers had entered weapons range their trajectory changed so that the Ha'tak could bring the least of its fast firing plasma cannons to bear. They were all keeping together, knowing that a ship like a Ha'tak was the strongest when simultaneously attacked from multiple sides since it had weapon emplacements equally spread everywhere on its hull. This way only a few cannons were able to fire at the flight of almost twenty-five heavy Reapers supported by many times more of the smaller sized ones.

The Ha'tak shield was flaring intensely with each impact caused by the Reapers' weapons. Even without asking for a status report Rak'nor knew from his display that the shield was remaining strong. A Ha'tak type IV, upgraded with systems stolen from the Aschen and reverse engineered by the Tau'ri, had double the efficiency of the preceding shield. All previous upgrades had in some way contributed in reinforcing the vessel's shielding system. Because of it, it wasn't strange at all that the only thing he was feeling right now was a slight vibration echoing through the hull as a result of each impact. The main gauge depicted the shield was working at a hundred percent efficiency, with its energy reserves overcharged before arrival at 237 percent, almost two-and-a-half times over the nominal state. There would be quite some time before the Reapers could deplete the shield's energy reserves or overtax its emitters in order to cause its efficiency to drop and maybe allow some of the destructive energy currently impacting the protective bubble to instead bleed through.

As predicted, their weapons were having trouble locking onto their targets. The Reapers might be total junk that, except when in great numbers, proved not to be much of a challenge against today's Jaffa ships. However, one thing was certain. Their gravitic engine combined with their compact size was giving them incredible maneuverability, so much so that it was proving difficult to score a hit. One of the large main cannons installed on a Ha'tak could blast a Reaper clean off with a single shot. Too bad that hitting it with that particular weapon was impossible since the little devils were making such course changes that the slowly rotating cannon could not hope of ever getting a clear lock. The smaller cannons were having an easier job, yet even they were missing most times. The Reapers' prediction algorithms were capable of anticipating and therefore capable of eluding the weapons' firing arcs, hence able to enact the best possible course changes in order to evade the incoming bolts fired without having to worry for the crew's wellbeing during sharp course changes because there simply wasn't a crew to worry about in the first place. Since the Reapers didn't rely on shields, the only thing protecting them was a thick, yet cheap armor constructed of nothing else than simple steel interwoven with carbon nanotubes. It was cheap crap compared to armor plating composed of Naquadah and Trinium like the plating used on Ha'tak vessels. Because of it, even a few well-placed hits from the smaller cannons were enough to promptly send a heavy Reaper to the scrap yard. Yet, the hit ratio of the smaller plasma cannons was less than 1.8%, which meant a lot of misses for a possible score that wasn't enough to outright knock out the insolent bugger.

Rak'nor thought how the next upgrade for their vessels should also include a better targeting system. More specifically, to change the prediction algorithms that calculated the enemy's predicted position before firing. It was important since vessels in space moved so fast that firing directly at where the enemy was would certainly result in a miss except if the ship was coming straight at you, which was almost never. The problem with the plan of upgrading their ships was that he knew who the people to upgrade that specific system would have to be, and it was no one from the Jaffa Free Nation. They needed someone like Sam Carter, their genius Council Member Rodney McKay or some other Tau'ri scientist that had spent several decades learning and honing their skills, as opposed to the Jaffa who up to five years ago didn't even know that a place to learn such things apparently existed. The Goa'uld had intentionally hidden any and all aspects of their ship's functionality, those that would require Jaffa to learn something of value. Instead, the Goa'uld were the ones who did all those things, while the Jaffa only learned how to operate a ship without learning how any of the systems really worked and ending up attributing their workings to magic. Even after five years, in which time the Tau'ri had sent scholars to teach them many things, like math, science, chemistry and countless other subjects that the Jaffa knew only at a level of a sixth grader, they were still far, far from being experts. At least that was if the Tau'ri explained correctly what a sixth grader was and how much they knew at such a young age. Rak'nor knew it would take at least another ten years and the emergence of the next generation of Jaffa who studied since an early age in order to have true professionals doing jobs like reprogramming a targeting system as complex as the one aboard a Ha'tak ship.

It was incredibly frustrating, being so reliant on the Tau'ri. Even more frustrating was knowing that the Tau'ri weren't helping them because they wanted something in return. It wasn't that the galaxy, now finally without the Goa'uld, was such a nice place filled with countless selfless races. Most races in the galaxy - and probably the rest of the universe too - didn't do altruistic work very often. In that, the Tau'ri were the odd ones. Or maybe a better way to put it was to state that all members of the Second Great Alliance were the odd ones. They were helping others even though there was nothing for them to gain. Moreover, he knew the Jaffa weren't as stable a race as some might think. There was a good chance that in the not so distant future the Jaffa Free Nation could crumble, splitting into two factions with completely different philosophies on how things should or shouldn't be done in the Milky Way galaxy. If that happened, one faction would certainly be hostile towards the Tau'ri, yet the Tau'ri would have been the ones who taught them how to grow into a strong and independent race only to be betrayed by them in return. It appeared as if the Tau'ri were working against their own self-interest. Even though more advanced than the other races in the Milky Way galaxy, having a large group of Jaffa who they taught dangerous things and that at some point in the future could be used against them, shouldn't be something the Tau'ri want or like to have to deal with.

He could not understand that part about them. It wasn't that they were so naïve, thinking that the Jaffa race would never split with a good percentage turning against them, either. The ones who warned Bra'tac and Teal'c of that undesirable outcome - and as they'd explained, not just a possibility of that happening but a probability as well - were the Tau'ri themselves. It was from Teal'c that he heard about it. Apparently, and previously unknown to him, the Tau'ri had access to an Asgard Core filled with prediction algorithms capable of calculating with a high degree of certainty that at some point after the war with the Vargas was over and a longer period of peace passes, many Jaffa would become restless and eventually would split by forming a separate faction. He didn't need the Tau'ri to tell him that time of peace was the most stressful time for the Jaffa Free Nation, as that was also when Jaffa did not know what to do with themselves. The Tau'ri had stated that those who'd accept a new way of thinking, one in which a Jaffa can be proud even if he didn't necessarily follow the path of a warrior, those would be the ones to try to keep the Jaffa united inside the current JFN. They would go against those who spent most of their time reminiscing about the good old days, those filled with glorious battles. They would go insofar as to think even of the time during Goa'uld oppression as the period where the Jaffa were most proud and much better than the new ways in which the Jaffa were turning into simple workers with cozy home, lives and a steady job.

It was frustrating for Rak'nor, mostly because he was convinced the Tau'ri predictions were dead on. Maybe ten of fifteen years after the war with the Vargas ends and the unrest would finally reach a dangerous level, resulting in nothing less than a full-blown civil war. The Tau'ri further predicted two possible outcomes. The first was for the war to drag on for years, maybe even a decade, at which point not much of the JFN would be left standing. It was an option in which their side would still win but at a great cost. The second option was for the Jaffa to come to an agreement on how to split, in which case the greatest point of contention would be Dakara. The Tau'ri told Teal'c and Bra'tac that at that point they should use Dakara as a bargaining chip and concede it to the conservative faction for some truly valuable real estate elsewhere in the galaxy. This, regrettably, would cause for even more Jaffa among the undecided to side with the conservatives, but the Tau'ri predicted that the remainder would form a smaller but wealthier nation. Eventually, possibly decades or even centuries into the future, their overwhelming financial and social predominance would force Jaffa from the other faction to trickle back, individual after individual, until all Jaffa once again became one. Nobody liked the idea the Tau'ri were suggesting. The drawback would be to cede Dakara and form a separate nation with only thirty percent of all Jaffa currently in the JFN, yet the planets received as a recompense for surrendering Dakara would enable them to create a more cohesive nation, plentiful in natural resources, and wealthier in knowledge and understanding. That would allow them for a more rapid growth than what the other faction could muster, in any conceivable way.

Rak'nor didn't know how to feel about that. Especially since the Tau'ri had some very strange ideas for their own future. Apparently, once the Milky Way finally found peace, they were planning on closing their borders almost completely. Daniel's explanation was that they would turn their attention inward rather than outward, trying to better themselves by truly understanding who they had become as a race without interference from outside sources, except for the guiding hand of the other three races in their alliance. He agreed that the Tau'ri had internal struggles to deal with. They too were a young race, with the Genesis Project, with them only recently venturing into space, and with their relations with the other races in their great alliance of four. He could even understand that, with the advancements received from the other three great races, having constant contact with the other races in the Milky Way galaxy could have a detrimental effect on their society. That was especially true since the main and possibly only reason why most races would want to deal with them would be to gain something they probably weren't prepared to give. This could then turn into strained diplomatic relations very quickly, yet the Tau'ri would have nothing to gain from such interactions with other races still at a much lower level than them, which included the Jaffa as well.

It still bugged Rak'nor that he couldn't fathom how they were going to isolate themselves, especially once their own people started venturing into space freely. Even less could he predict what the consequences for the split Jaffa race would amount to. On one end, the Tau'ri told them what the not so distant future held. On the other, they told them that, for the most part, they would be on their own since they would take no active part in what will happen around the galaxy, for as long as it doesn't concern them directly or it isn't below a certain assumed level of morality. Introduce slavery back, and they are already knocking on your door, with a sledgehammer.

Rak'nor didn't know what to think about all this.

For now, the Tau'ri predictions were being kept secret, with only a small group of Jaffa loyal to Teal'c and Bra'tac being informed. It was important to prepare in order to prevent the fracturing of the JFN from happening, or if in the end, it wasn't possible, as the Tau'ri were foretelling, then to prepare for that eventuality as well. They needed to prevent from being blindsided once again like a few years back when Gerak decided to turn traitor.

During his reflections on what the future held for the Jaffa, the Reapers didn't simply stop with their attack. He was constantly feeling the same vibrations caused by the enemy's weapons that persistently kept hitting the shield. He was constantly darting his eyes at his displays, diligently keeping tabs on the situation even while thinking of other things. Of note, one of the Reapers had blown up a short time ago, their shield's efficiency was still strong at a hundred percent, and the energy reserves were still well above their nominally charged state. Things were still looking good, maybe even too good. As opposed to the strange race the Tau'ri had encountered in one of the satellite galaxies, the one capable of preventing a ship from entering hyperspace, here they could slip away at any time if the situation necessitated such action. Afterward, once their shield's energy was replenished and their emitters had been cooled down, they could simply come back and resume with the skirmish. Yet, that wasn't the plan. Moreover, outright showing how outclassed the enemy was in this particular battle wasn't good either.

Not for the plan they had devised.

"Lower the shield strength by a few percent and continue doing so every five or so minutes. And be certain not to be too conspicuous in your doing," Rak'nor ordered.

"Yes, Commander," the tactical officer replied.

He needed to make the Reapers think that they were slowly accomplishing something, even though in reality they weren't. It would take many time this number of Reapers to threaten a Ha'tak. He knew that he could order the shield's strength to be lowered below fifty percent and the enemy's barrages would still be unable to hemorrhage through. By fooling the Reapers, he was hoping they would decide against moving the mothership, the one currently busy constructing a replica of itself. He hoped that would be the case because at the end of the day they were here only as bait and nothing more. They were here only as a diversion in order to lure the smaller Reapers away from the mothership and in order for its AI to spend some of its processing power on monitoring this battle rather than monitoring its near surroundings where, hopefully, the Tau'ri were already busy doing their share of the assignment.

Rak'nor didn't exactly know how to feel about their role in this mission. They were here because using a Tau'ri ship as a bait was not possible since the Reaper's AI would most certainly decide that fighting such an opponent would result in utter defeat and hence would decide to escape, as a better option. Rak'nor really didn't like being used as the only ones who could accomplish this mission because they were also the ones having a weak enough ship to be the right bait.

Still, if at the end of the day this mission helped them in getting rid of the Reapers for good, who was he to complain about the role he had to play in their eventual demise? The important thing was to find a way to track down the Reapers and then to all together chase them down and destroy them until none remained in the whole of the Milky Way galaxy.

He wondered how the Tau'ri were doing and if their distraction would last long enough.

* * *

Cloaked, the nimble Defiant inched closer to its target, the three times larger and fully operational Reaper Mothership. The Defiant was the latest in the constantly growing number of different type of ships under the Terran arsenal. Hence, it was filled with the latest technologies currently at their disposal, giving the small and versatile attack ship unprecedented defensive and offensive capabilities, even such to go against opponents many times larger than its diminutive size would suggest as possible. The ship's strength didn't matter at the moment, though, as the mission didn't entail the use of brute force. Instead, the Defiant was now under stealth conditions, easily noticeable by anyone aboard the compact bridge because of the dimmed blue light pervading the room. The fact that the frontal view was showing the Mothership standing in front of them without firing from all of its many weapon ports was another indicator confirming they were still unseen by the enemy.

"We have reached the desired distance from the target, sir," the officer at the helm informed JJ, the captain.

"Good, good. A captain's boredom is never a good thing and I was really starting to feel it. Let's see if we can pull this off and all go home happy," JJ replied, thinking how the Defiant was a beautiful ship in so many ways, but comfort wasn't one of them. Its size precluded such a possibility. He turned to face the tactical officer. "Inform the raptor to proceed as planned."

"Yes, sir," the tactical officer replied, quickly giving the necessary command through his console. "Raptor One is on its way."

No wonders there. The Hangar doors had been opened before they reached proximity with the target and the pilots and marines aboard the small craft had eagerly been awaiting the go ahead. The pilot must have eagerly pushed the throttle, the instant the order came because the craft sped like a bullet. As expected, the only thing he could see of the craft was a blue silhouette representing the raptor on the screen. The frontal display didn't show the craft as it was, simply because it was under stealth, the same as the Defiant.

Once again, there was not much to do or see, but to patiently wait. The raptor was now nearing the port side of the still unmoving alien vessel, somewhere near the middle. There were no indication the craft had been detected, which was a very good thing. This was among the most dangerous parts of the mission.

"The raptor stopped with its approach at the predefined point, meters from the mothership," the tactical officer informed.

Now the most critical part was coming. One of the marines needed to exit the raptor under a personal cloak, reach the wall of the alien vessel, and then use the Tollan phase-shifting technology to pass through the hull. This was the most critical portion of the whole mission because the marine was extremely exposed while floating in space. Even more so, since he would have to turn his personal cloak off while using the phase-shifting technology. The two technologies simply didn't work well together. JJ was wishing for the marine to enter undetected and, once inside, safely reactivate the cloak that in theory should be enough to hide him from any internal sensor the automated ship might have.

"Who's the marine that's doing the difficult part?" JJ asked.

"Bubba, sir," the tactical officer replied.

"Seriously?" JJ was truly puzzled, and his face was most certainly showing it for everyone to see.

"Yes, sir," the same officer confirmed stoically, as that was his usual demeanor.

"I would never have thought the marine would choose a two meter tall and almost three hundred pounds heavy guy for this mission. I'm definitely surprised. Together with his personal armor, he'll definitely have trouble moving inside that thing that has never been intended to have people crawling inside it in the first place," JJ contemplated aloud.

"He's not wearing any armor, sir," the tactical officer replied.

"Well, I'm sure he's not naked, so my next question is - what is he wearing?" JJ asked, really wanting to know.

"He said that if he was discovered, wearing armor on this mission would serve no purpose whatsoever. Therefore, he opted for one of the newly developed skinsuits as it would give him much greater mobility," the tactical officer explained.

JJ clenched his teeth at the mention of the suits. It wasn't that he minded the marine using it instead of the combat armor. It was his decision after all and he should, in any case, be the one to assess and decide the best approach and tools to take on this mission. What he minded though was that the top brass was thinking of making the aforementioned skinsuit obligatory for all crewmembers at all times or, if not all the time, then at least for those currently on active duty. The idea behind this move wasn't a bad one, he had to admit that. The skinsuit, when worn with the paired helmet, turned airtight, something that could potentially save many lives if the ship was to suddenly lose pressure during a firefight. The skinsuit could keep a person alive in the cold of space for up to thirty minutes, and there was an embedded communication device in it that allowed someone stranded and floating aimlessly in the emptiness of space to talk to somebody and ask for help. This, combined with the Terran ability to beam people from one place to another in a heartbeat, could potentially save all those who didn't die in the initial blast and instead had ended up floating outside the ship during the sudden depressurization. Yet, for JJ to have to wear that airtight but also _skintight_ suit on a daily basis was very unappealing. He would rather spend his duty hours on the bridge in his casual uniform, which in his opinion was the best the Space Navy has to offer when garments were the topic of discussion. So much so that he had taken three of them home to wear while doing nothing except lying on his sofa and watching _The Simpsons_.

No matter how he felt about the new garments the TSN was trying to introduce, he hoped that the same would make Bubba's mission an easier one to complete. It had been ten or so minutes since the big guy had slipped undetected inside the alien vessel, and he was starting to feel restless. They didn't know how much it would take the marine to reach the AI core and plant the device that, in theory, should allow unimpeded access to the core without having to deal with any pesky firewalls. All that was going to be done wirelessly through a dedicated subspace connection that, as the scientists who had worked on the device had passionately assured, was completely undetectable. It was the point of the whole mission. To connect to the Reaper's AI and maybe even to the underlying communication network they were certain must exist, the one that hopefully connected all motherships in the entire Milky Way galaxy. If they could determine the exact protocol the Reapers were using to communicate their location and attack priorities, they could find all of them at once and maybe end them once and for all on a galactic scale.

"Bubba's out of the ship, sir. He's moving back toward the raptor under the cloak. So far, there's no sign of discovery," the officer reported.

JJ put a broad smile on his face. He still didn't know if Bubba was able to plant the device, yet he assumed that the man had done it. He was certain the marine would have taken more time trying if he hadn't been able to do it in as little as fifteen minutes, the amount of time it apparently took to complete his portion of the mission. The raptor was now coming back, which meant the mission was quickly coming to a close.

"How are the Jaffa doing?" JJ asked. There was a separate portion of the mission they needed to keep an eye out, and the moment they were done, they needed to inform the Jaffa to stop acting as a dartboard for the Reapers.

"No damage to their ship thus far. Their shield is at 56% strength, but that could be a deception on their part. Our intel suggests the strength of a Jaffa's Ha'tak type IV shield should not have dropped so quickly," the tactical officer reported. "The reapers have lost five of the largest vessels and seven of the smaller ones."

It was true that the Jaffa were starting to employee other, more complex tactics than just the simple brute force approach to achieve their goal, and deception was certainly among them. The Terrans knew very well what a leap in shielding technology the Jaffa had received after the Terrans had captured and reverse engineered some key components of an Aschen warship before promptly giving all of their findings to the Jaffa. The Terrans knew all that, but as far as other races in the Milky Way galaxy were concerned the Jaffa were making do with a shield that was not much different from that of its predecessor, the type III Ha'tak.

"All right. The moment the raptor touches the hangar's floor, let's put some distance between us and the mothership," JJ ordered.

It took only a few extra minutes for the raptor to enter inside the small hangar bay located on the ship's underside.

"The raptor is inside. They are acknowledging the successful completion of the mission. The device has been planted, sir."

As ordered, the Defiant was already moving away from the mostly lethargic mothership that continued to diligently work on building a replica of itself. It seemed that their little stroll has gone unnoticed by the enemy, which was a very positive thing. Now it was time for the most important part to commence. Since the Defiant didn't have the processing power needed to accomplish their intended goal, another ship was needed to accomplish the actual intrusion into the reaper's systems. "Notify Landry that it is time for Hercules to shine, and prepare the Defiant to serve as a relay station for the signal between them and the device."

The installed device was supposedly perfect for smashing into protected computer systems, but it had a small downside. The device didn't have a very long range of communication. Because of it, the Defiant needed to serve as a booster in order for the signal to reach the dreadnought Hercules currently waiting outside of the system. They needed the ship's powerful AI, yet the ship didn't have the necessary cloaking technology to complete this mission on its own, hence the need for the Defiant.

"The Hercules is initiating the connection. Stand by," the communication officer informed the rest of the crew, also smartly putting all relevant data on the main view for everybody to see.

JJ didn't know what half of the things scrolling on the display were about, but he at least knew that the connection was established and that some data was now beginning to trickle between the Hercules and the largest Reaper in the system. Of course, their idea was to access its systems without the Reaper knowing that it was being hacked, yet JJ knew that when connecting to unknown and hostile systems plans and predictions rarely survived the first few minutes. Yet, he hadn't thought things would have gone south so quickly, or at least that is how it appeared right now from his mostly ignorant view on such matters.

There was an indicator on the screen that had gone red. Why he did not know.

"What's going on?" JJ asked.

"It seems the reaper has detected erroneous behavior in its systems. Maybe some separate anti-intrusion protocol is detecting that some code inside the core is being modified without authorization. It is probing the memory location that Hercules is currently modifying."

"Why is Hercules trying to modify the reaper's code?" JJ asked. He wasn't exactly a guru when it came to coding stuff.

"The easiest way for Hercules to gain the wanted access is to implant a malicious piece of code that simply opens a port through which data can be perused and eventually siphoned out for later inspection," the comm. officer answered.

"Yet, it seems Hercules will be unable to do it. At least if am reading the screen correctly that is," JJ replied while intently scrutinizing the data on the main display.

"It seems that way, but from what I can tell, what the reaper has detected is only a diversion. Hercules is simply formatting that memory location for no purpose at all while he's also modifying another, smaller portion with the real code. It seems it will be completely rewritten in ten more seconds."

JJ was starting to feel the pressure as if somebody was trying to defuse a bomb that stubbornly refused to shut down. Seconds were slowly passing by as if ten seconds were taking much longer than they should have the right to ever last.

"Hercules has succeeded in establishing a direct connection with the data frame. It is now only a matter of how much data he can go through before the reaper detects the intrusion. Hercules is first compressing data the malicious code thinks could be relevant to us in order to minimize the transfer time. Once copied aboard the Hercules, then it will try to learn if the copied data is related to what we are looking for, or if he needs to try looking for it elsewhere."

JJ didn't get all that was happening and, moreover, he wasn't certain if he should even feel bad about not getting it. After all, the mission would come to a conclusion no matter if he understood exactly what the comm. officer was babbling about or not.

JJ turned as he heard the tactical officer making a guttural and mostly incoherent sound that, he had to admit, startled him. "What is it?"

"Sir, I am detecting an energy buildup inside the reaper," the officer explained, now with a crisp and articulate voice befitting of an officer employed in the Terran Navy. The displeased facial expression remained, though.

From what he could see from the main view and all of the data displayed on it – or what he was able to track - it seemed as if the reaper didn't detect the intrusion into their systems. He was about to ask the comm. officer if he knew more than he did - knowing that the man could not know less in any case - when some of the data displayed abruptly changed. By their color, he was sure it was nothing that they would go celebrate later.

"Hercules is informing us that the alien AI has detected the intrusion and is taking appropriate countermeasures. As a result, Hercules has begun a brute force attack with the goal of taking full control of the automated ship, but it's warning us that the chances of succeeding are negligible. The most we can hope for is for the reaper to be slowed down in whatever it is trying to do," the comm. officer explained.

"I thought Hercules was an AI eons ahead of that reaper. Why is it having so much trouble, and why is it going to eventually lose?" JJ asked, still not sure what was happening and why it had to be bad.

"It is, sir. In terms of capabilities, the Hercules is on a completely different level. However, the reaper's AI is much simpler, which in this case is a good thing since it means it is also much sturdier. There are fewer ways to attack it since it has a much smaller set of functionalities. Also, the only point of entry that Hercules has at its disposal is the device we installed, which is far from being omnipotent in its ability to intrude into foreign systems," the comm. officer explained.

It made sense, in a way. A simpler system was usually very robust and hence more difficult to exploit since the number of methods that could be used was limited. Still, they went through a lot to make this mission become a reality and not only them. The Jaffa were also doing their part, which must be pissing Rak'nor off to no end. The man has to suffer hits from the Reapers as a decoy, and he knew the man wasn't built for that. No Jaffa was.

JJ looked at the display that had changed from the data they were looking until moments ago, to the view of the mothership. He understood why somebody switched the view when he saw several volleys flying from the active mothership towards the one that was being built. Plasma blasts rained on the half-done mothership, breaking large chunks of the still incomplete ship with each devastating impact.

The ship exploded abruptly, taking down the connected construction yard with it. JJ was about to comment on current events that were unfolding in front of him when the other mothership blew up in a million pieces.

"What the fuck happened?" JJ finally was able to speak.

"This is what Hercules was trying to postpone sir. From the moment the Reaper detected an intrusion through an unknown method, it began a self-destruct protocol in order to take out any evidence. Sir, it knew that it had no way of disabling the device we planted and the only way to prevent us from accessing any important data was to destroy both motherships," the tactical officer explained.

"All right, all right. What I want to know now is, did this mission fail or did we get what we came for?" JJ asked. A lot of work had been done for a result he could have achieved with a few well-placed hits from the Defiant's main guns.

"We won't know until the Hercules goes through the retrieved and still compressed data with a fine toothcomb. It is possible that there's some information pertinent to how the reapers communicate," the comm. officer reported.

"Great! That's just great! What about the smaller reapers in the system? Those currently attacking the Jaffa?" JJ asked.

"Umm, they have scattered, sir," the tactical officer reported.

"Oh, that's just great," JJ answered, suddenly feeling tired. They'd seen such behavior before. The moment the reapers were certain that victory was impossible, or that without their mothership they were, for all intent and purpose, lost in space, they would promptly scatter to all corners of the star system, as if taunting them to go chase them, and in the process lose days while doing it. JJ knew it would take time to chase them all down, which meant this mission just got extended for a few more boring days for certain.

"Let's go help the Jaffa clean up this system, shall we?"

It was going to be a long few days, JJ knew.

* * *

 ** _Thanks for reading. Please leave a review_**


	10. First Contact

**Author's note:** I wasn't sure when this chapter would come out, but since my beta was extremely fast in checking my errors, I decided to post this chapter right away. In the past month or so I've managed in writing and rewriting a rough draft of what will be the next six chapters, and I'm pretty satisfied how it all came out. So, expect a lot of things happening in the following chapters.

Maybe I'll be able to polish them on a weekly schedule too.

 ** _Thanks to my beta, and hope you'll enjoy this chapter while reading it._**

* * *

Teal'c walked inside the council chamber, giving a quick, measuring look at each of the members already present inside before stopping at Rak'nor who was in the process of giving his report. Seeing the council again was enough to make him purse his lips, with negative emotions welling up inside him once again. Every time he saw these people, he knew how far from their goal they still were. As opposed to the Terrans who also had a council, the Jaffa counterpart wasn't comprised of members with different responsibilities attached to them. Daniel Jackson was responsible for diplomacy, Jack O'Neill was responsible for everything related to their military and Rodney McKay worked tirelessly to make their research and development program as efficient as it could possibly be. Each with their own responsibilities, the Terran council worked as a single entity for the betterment of the entire Terran Federation and its people, no matter on which planet they were.

The Jaffa Council wasn't like that.

Inside their council, there was no one person responsible for diplomacy, or research, or for their military. Instead, members represented the many factions in the Free Jaffa Nation, which were now numbering twenty-five in total. Three more than a year ago. It also seemed as if Jaffa System Lords had swapped the now defunct Goa'uld System Lords.

Bra'tac was the council member that represented the Jaffa from the former territories of Apophis and Cronus, one of the largest Jaffa factions. With a population numbering in many millions and a great number of shipyards and warships at their disposal, their faction alone had a quarter of the total votes in the council. Some would believe that with a few more factions on their side, they would easily have the swaying votes in most matters. However, that wasn't the case. Only a few other factions like Ishtar's Hak'tyl and the faction in Ba'al's former territories led by Grai'ac had a similar view on what the Free Jaffa Nations should be like, and they had fewer votes in the council than many.

Their biggest opponent was Bre'lac who was leading the Jaffa previously under Yu, and he alone had almost thirty percent of the overall votes. Jaffa that were previously under Heru'ur were siding with Bre'lac on many issues, mostly because it would be against the Jaffa led by Bra'tac. Jaffa under Heru'ur and those under Apophis had fought each other for so long that even now, a time when the Goa'uld were a part of the past, animosities still lingered.

The end result was a council with two large groups on opposite ends, one led by Bre'lac and the other led by Bra'tac. Those two groups were polar opposites and there was nothing anyone could to about that. Then there was the rest with around forty percent of the remaining votes spread across more than a dozen factions of various sizes and spread sparsely throughout the galaxy, in many cases with planets from the same faction being tens of thousands of light years apart. Now that the gates were not working anymore, nobody knew what the full ramification would be. With such factions in the Council, it was a nightmare getting anything done, and even when a decision was finally made, it was dubious who was supposed to work on it since there were no council members delegated with specific responsibilities.

Teal'c stopped next to Bra'tac. He wasn't a member of the Council anymore. Instead, he was the person in charge of the Jaffa military and the direct liaison with the Tau'ri. Teal'c stood there while saying nothing, as Rak'nor was still in the process of giving his report. It would also be bad form for someone who wasn't a member of the Council to simply barge in and speak without being spoken to first.

"… the Tau'ri sent us a message informing us of their success. Since our diversion wasn't necessary anymore, we began systematically destroying the remaining Reapers in the system. They tried to flee, but it only served in delaying the inevitable," Rak'nor explained the events that transpired on his last mission. The mission had been to access the Reapers mothership in order to gain knowledge of their various positions across the galaxy.

"Were the Tau'ri able to determine where the Reapers are located?" Bre'lac asked.

"They informed us that it would take time to go through the recovered data. They will give us the results once they are done," Rak'nor replied.

"Yes, I am certain that informing us will be a priority to them," Bre'lac responded. There was definitely cynicism present in his reply.

"It seems that we _are_ a priority, after all, Master Bre'lac," Teal'c interjected with a hint of a smile forming. "They informed me the moment they finished with their analysis."

"And what is the result of their analysis?" Bre'lac asked. He clearly didn't like Teal'c being present.

"Unfortunately, the Reaper mothership self-destructed before they could decipher the communication protocol shared by all Reapers," Teal'c replied. When he heard from O'Neill of the mission's failure, he wasn't happy. He was looking forward to a way to locate the Reapers and finally go on the offensive. "They were able to retrieve only pieces of the underlying code. Not enough to serve us in pinpointing their locations."

"Yes, I am certain that is what they told you," Bre'lac replied, again spitting venom against the Tau'ri.

Teal'c was too old and too experienced to enter another meaningless discussion with Bre'lac.

Unfortunately, another council member, Rel'kor of the former Baal's territories and one of their strongest allies, wasn't as experienced. "And why would the Tau'ri deceive us?"

"To keep us contained in our territories. Without the knowledge of where the Reapers are, we can only defend our systems. This means keeping all of our warships inside our territories instead of exploring the galaxy," Bre'lac responded.

He was being diplomatic too. What Bre'lac meant with exploring the galaxy was seeking new resources mostly in the form of planets the Jaffa could claim as their own. It wasn't enough that the Jaffa already had hundreds of worlds that they didn't know what to do with except needlessly forcing them to thin out their defenses in order to protect them all. There were planets with millions of people on them, like Chulak and Dakara, but there were also those that had only a few thousand Jaffa present on the surface, relocated only so that they could claim those planets as their own in the eyes of other races.

The Jaffa nation numbered in around four hundred million, or at least that was the number of those Jaffa registered as citizens of the Free Jaffa Nation. There were much more elsewhere in the galaxy, but those Jaffa it seemed didn't care much about the FJN. They were mercenaries hired by others, or some were entrepreneurs bent on exploring the galaxy on their own and doing whatever they wanted without having to answer to anyone. Teal'c knew that it would come a time when all Jaffa would have to come back into the fold. That will be when there were no symbiotes to sustain them. Then, except for the small amount of Tretonin that could be found on the black market, Jaffa would have no other choice but to return in order to get a dose of the essential drug or otherwise, die a painful death. Still, even by taking them into account, the Jaffa race still numbered in less than half a billion, the inevitable consequence of being used as cannon fodder by the Goa'uld. There were human races out there living on a single planet that had more people. The Galarans had more than two billion, the Optricans and Bedrosians were above one and much more were out there who lived on one single world in such or similarly high numbers. Instead, the Jaffa were needlessly spread across hundreds of worlds.

The Terrans had made a prediction of the future in which the Jaffa would split in two. They were saying that it was inevitable and that when it happened their side should pick a few dozen worlds rich with the right minerals and concentrated in a small region of the galaxy, and give the rest to the other factions. There, they could create a cohesive and strong nation, one that with the aid from the Tau'ri could quickly grow into a wealthy race, yet much easier to manage and defend because of their size and close proximity. Unknown to most factions in the Jaffa Free Nation, they were already preparing for that eventuality. Worlds had already been chosen and the right infrastructures were being built on them more than on other worlds. It was their plan to trade Dakara and the other rich worlds for those that were, above all, rich in Naquadah and other minerals needed by any advanced race. Those planets were also the best for their people in terms of comfortable ecosystems. They were far better than Dakara or other planets that had deposits of Naquadah on them but living there was far from pleasant.

"The threat of the Vargas, their minions, and mechanical creations threatens us all. Until our galaxy is freed, none can rest easy," Bra'tac responded as the voice of reason. "The Tau'ri want them destroyed as much as we do."

"Not as much as we do," Bre'lac retorted. "They have defenses capable of repelling attacks from the Reapers or other enemies with ease. We are those who cannot protect all of our assets if the number of Reapers continues to increase any further. This is exactly what the Tau'ri want."

"Even here you're to be proven wrong," Teal'c replied, moving to the console in front of Bra'tac. He placed a data crystal in its appropriate opening.

"Meaning?" Bre'lac asked reluctantly.

A hologram sprang to life, showing the schematics of a satellite. "This is the first of a series of weapons the Tau'ri have created specifically to battle the Reapers."

"I do not see anything special in this satellite. I do not see shields, the material used I believe is weaker than our current satellites and ships are made from, and both the energy source and weapons cannot be compared to our own. This type of weapon is weaker than anything we have. Why would we build them?"

"The Tau'ri have given us these schematics because they knew of our problems in defending all of our many planets. Because of it, they have come up with a satellite that we can easily mass-produce in our factories in great numbers and without taxing our production of ships because they do not use any special materials like Naquadah or other rare elements needed in the building of ships the likes of a Ha'tak. However, these satellites still have a longer firing range than that of the Reapers, they have a thick enough hull to survive longer than a Reaper, and have an auto-repair system that can make an even moderately damaged satellite fully operational once again with no need for us to repair them manually. Something very important to us when mass-producing our defenses.

"Yes, how convenient. The Tau'ri are giving us obsolete technology that cannot threaten them in any way and they are calling it help. If they wanted to help us end the Reapers' menace, they should have shared with us their most advanced weaponry instead, so that we can prevail against these machines."

Teal'c felt fed up by Bre'lac rhetoric. The man reminded him of another Jaffa that was against the Tau'ri many years ago. A Jaffa that went so far because of his hatred for the Tau'ri that he ended up betraying them all by joining the Ori. However, a thin smile formed on his face as he realized the involuntary mistake Bre'lac had made. Anyone could spit all they wanted at the Tau'ri and the majority in the council couldn't care less, but it was never a good idea to imply that the Jaffa were not good enough as warriors.

"Are you telling us, Bre'lac, that without the Tau'ri weaponry we Jaffa are useless as warriors? Even after the Tau'ri have dispatched of most of the Vargas and left only their minions to deal with, you are still insulting us by saying that we cannot fight them with the technology we currently own? Do you believe the Jaffa are so weak? Are you also making us be hypocrites? You accuse the Tau'ri of being unwilling to share their advanced weaponry, yet we the Jaffa did the same when other human races asked us for our technology in order to fight the Aschen more effectively," Teal'c said with faked, righteous indignation for everybody to see.

"You are not a member of this council! How dare you accuse me inside this sacred chamber?" Bre'lac spat back, but his rebuke appeared weak and most of all petty.

"Would it be different if not Teal'c but I as a member of this Council was the one speaking those same claims?" Bra'tac interrupted, with steel in his voice. Bre'lac wasn't going to so easily deflect the accusations against him. Not while Bra'tac was a member of the Council. "Answer me, Bre'lac? Do you believe the Jaffa are weak and in desperate need of Tau'ri weaponry to fight a foe such as the Reapers?"

"We do not," Bre'lac replied through clenched teeth. "We will prevail against any foe, no matter what technology we hold."

"Good. Then let us proceed with the reason why Teal'c is here," Bra'tac continued, clearly wanting for this meeting to continue in the right direction. "Teal'c, how is the production of the new Ha'til class vessels proceeding?"

"The shipyards on Chulak, Nan'rok, and Kalesh are ahead of schedule," Teal'c responded. Those were the three most advanced shipyards they had until the day when the other two planned shipyards were completed on two other worlds under Bra'tac's control. They were currently in the process of building the third batch of Ha'til ships with many more to come soon after.

The Jaffa under Bra'tac understood the need to differentiate between types of ship, which prompted the addition of an entirely new class of ships, one they were currently missing. The Ha'tak IV was powerful and with its strong shields and weapons, it was capable of fighting several strong opponents at once. However, the ship was still a multipurpose vessel even after all the changes done to its initial design. The ship still had large rooms filled with gliders and other capable of holding a large number of soldiers or tons of cargo. The Tau'ri asked a simple question that needed to be answered. Was the Ha'tak an attack vessel, a carrier or a cargo ship? The answer was all of the above, which meant it wasn't a specialized ship with a clear purpose in battle. This had two large downsides. The Jaffa needed a lot of time and material to build them as it was larger than strictly necessary to fulfill a single role, and its unavoidably increased size limited its maneuverability. Except for the Ha'tak, the Jaffa had only the Al'kesh as the second type of ship, but everybody knew the Al'kesh was an obsolete design, impractical to use in every conceivable military role. Weak weapons and shields made it good only at transporting a small number of warriors or goods, the reason that hastily prompted the development of the Ha'til class vessel. An attack vessel of around 200 meters in length, narrower, more maneuverable than a Ha'tak, and with most of its weapons facing forward as it was decided that an attack vessel quick at turning should have the ability to bring most of its weaponry to bear at once. With its smaller size, the ship's volume and mass were around eight times less than that of a Ha'tak. It also meant that it needed eight times less material and it could be built many times faster. The addition of the second class of warships that can be mass produced, one strong enough to survive in a fight against enemies like the Reapers or Hunters, would give them many more tactical options than what they had right now with only one class of ships that needed to fill all roles.

"And what of the other shipyards we tasked with the construction of the Ha'til?" Bra'tac asked.

"That is a question that needs to be directed at council member Bre'lac, as his shipyards are the ones heavily lagging behind schedule," Teal'c replied without holding back.

"Bre'lac? Explain this at once," Bra'tac added.

It did seem the man was turning redder with each passing moment. "The changes needed to be made to our facilities before production of the new Ha'til ships can commence are not easy to make. Because of it, I have asked Teal'c if production of some components we are incapable of producing to be done in other shipyards instead, at least until we finish upgrading our production lines. However, I have not received even one of the components asked."

Bra'tac turned to face Teal'c. "Is this true?"

"It is. Councilor Bre'lac asked for assistance in this matter. However, I did inform him that our shipyards and other facilities are already working at their maximum capacity and that if we give him the asked components we produced, then the completion of the ships built in our shipyards would be delayed. There would be no point in doing this as it would result in no improved overall production of ships. Even now we only have one spare set of components Bre'lac has asked that we can give without hindering our own production. He asks for a minimum of ten sets to continue normal production until his factories are able to produce the same components. Also, the delay in the upgrade process of their production lines is no news and I have promptly suggested a solution to the problem. Yet, Bre'lac has discarded it and this is the result."

"I will not give access to our shipyards and production lines to the Tau'ri. We will make the necessary changes on our own."

"It is not only your unwillingness to allow the Tau'ri access to your worlds, but also your unwillingness to send your people to the Tau'ri to learn what's needed to operate those facilities more efficiently. The Tau'ri have graciously agreed to teach our people in the ways of their engineers, which many from Chulak, Nan'rok, and even Kalesh have done. As a result, many are now better qualified at working in our own facilities. Not to mention many were afterward able to improve on several production lines without any outside help. That is why we are able to build Ha'til and Ha'tak ships even ahead of schedule."

"I will not allow the Tau'ri access to our facilities and my people are unwilling to go to the Tau'ri to be taught. We will manage without them," Bre'lac replied the same thing with finality.

Teal'c wanted to smack the guy until he gave a complying answer. Then he thought to simply leave him to his misery, but the problem there was that all of the Jaffa would suffer the consequences of his obstinacy when the needed ships were not built on time. He knew the Reapers were not having trouble with their building schedule. "Would you be willing to allow Jaffa from Chulak to come and help in upgrading your facilities and teach your people? I believe we could do without a few of our engineers for a short period of time."

Teal'c could see the man changing color. The conflict between agreeing to receive help from someone who he despised and the wish to simply say no even though detrimental to their cause. "That would be agreeable."

"Bre'lac, could you say it a little louder? My old ears do not hear as they once did," Bra'tac asked with a smirk.

"I agree to allow Jaffa from Chulak to come and help upgrade our facilities and teach our people on how to operate them properly," Bre'lac said it, much louder this time.

The entire room was filled with people smirking. It was an incredible blow for a man like Bre'lac, but at least it seemed that the man was capable of putting his pride aside for the benefit of his people.

There was still hope, Teal'c thought.

* * *

"Eli, please come in," Lora said into the communication device she was holding.

" _Eli here_ ," Eli's voice came back from the same device.

"Eli, the Captain here is starting to feel restless. Any particular reason for the delay?" Lora asked, at the same time giving Young a glance, followed by a kind smile.

"We should already have started. My restless disposition is, therefore, a quite adequate response," Young said, a little miffed.

They had just dropped in the middle of nowhere where they were planning to fix the ship's largest systems, those systems that needed to be shut down first. Among those systems, the most prominent ones were the engines and the ship's energy capacitors. Both could be worked on only when the entire ship was shut down and he wasn't particularly looking forward to it.

To make matters worse, they finally understood how some hostile aliens were able to track the Destiny. They were able to understand it after Lora had upgraded the ship's sensors to current Alterran standards. Now they were able to follow the alien's movements while they were transiting through hyperspace, at least if they were close enough. By tracking them, they were able to determine that the aliens were also able to track them in return while the Destiny was in FTL, they just didn't have the means to intercept them while partially pushed outside of normal space, hence capable of traveling at speeds impossible for our space-time. Two times now they had appeared shortly after exiting FTL - both times in less than twenty minutes - and Young knew this time wouldn't be any different. The previous times they had been mere tests to know how much time they had before their unsolicited arrival. This time it wasn't a mere test. This time they were shutting down the ship for real, and the clock was already ticking.

And Eli was running late, of all things.

" _I'm done_ ," Eli's reply came, the same instant as all the systems across the ship went down.

"We can see that," Lora replied. They all started sensing a certain buoyancy, with the artificial gravity now gone. Other systems were going down, too, one by one. "Good job. How many capacitors have you emptied?"

" _Three, which makes ten in total_ ," Eli's response was heard. " _I'm waiting now at the main station until all repairs are done_."

Seven capacitors were completely shut down because some of their critical components had broken down a long time ago. The other three, the ones he had just fully squeezed of even the faintest trace of energy, had been working below acceptable efficiency levels and in dire need of being restored. If they manage to repair them as planned, the ship's energy reserves would climb from the current thirty percent to an outstanding eighty-two. However, the task in front of them wasn't an easy one. First thing Young had learned was that some of the capacitors were as large as an average bus, and they were also spread out across the entirety of the ship. However, the largest ones were close to the energy collectors located underneath the ship. Anyhow, their distribution unfortunately complicated matters further. They were prepared, though, Lora had guaranteed it. They had surveyed each and every one of them and found what was wrong with each individual unit. Still, the time was trickling inexorably and if the aliens were punctual – and there was no reason to believe they wouldn't be - they would be here in less than twenty minutes. They could not know exactly since the power was down and sensors were out of commission until repairs were completed and power was restored.

"I've already given the go ahead to all teams," Lora told Young. "Now we have to wait and see how much we are able to repair in such a limited amount of time."

"Give me a view of one of the shuttles then," Young asked. "I want to see how the upgrades are proceeding there."

Only moments later, the console began showing a view of the shuttle from the camera placed on the helmet of one of the engineers. He was climbing on top of the craft with some glassy, dark spherical cap in hand. If Young didn't know any better, he would think the man was carrying some light fixture previously stolen from his home back on Earth. Instead, he knew the man was carrying the latest in shield emitters to be placed on top of the shuttle.

Time was of the essence, though, which meant no fooling around with the installation. Everything had already been prepared ahead of time except for the few things that needed to be done on the outside of the craft only after Destiny's shield was down. As the engineer approached the top of the craft, his - or her, he did not know - visor began showing a superimposed, yellow wireframe representing the emitter's preset position, the exact spot where it needed to be placed. As the man did so, the wireframe began blinking green. It meant that he had placed it in the right spot. He then pushed a small indentation on the side of the round emitter. There was no change to be discerned, but Young knew that behind the scene, literally this time, nanites were fusing the emitter to the hull and were burrowing a miniature hole through which the connection between the emitter and the inside of the ship was to be established.

It took no more than a minute for the green wireframe to stop blinking. Now it was just showing a green wireframe, denoting the installation had successfully been completed. The rest was up to the people inside the craft who still needed to finish the connection with the previously installed shield generator, the one that, together with the installed mini-hyperdrive and a set of stacked Naquadah units that served to power everything, was taking a good chunk of the available space in the rear compartment of the shuttle.

With the task accomplished, the engineer slid down one side of the shuttle. Once there, Young could see a few more engineers entering his field of vision, apparently all busy changing thrusters, plasma cannons and also in the process of attaching more shield emitters. Frankly, they looked more like those mechanics who were members of a racing team, busy changing the car tires in less than eight seconds flat or otherwise the team would lose the first place in the race. It was apparent there was no time to be wasted, and every engineer there knew that.

"They are working fast," Young stated.

"Wouldn't you while working on the outside of the ship while knowing that hostile aliens are fast approaching?" Lora asked rhetorically.

"Point taken," Young agreed. "It is still worthy of praise, though."

"Eli, how are the repairs going on your end?" Lora asked.

" _Six capacitors are ahead of schedule, one so-so, and the other three are making the engineers' life miserable_ ," Eli reported. There was clearly a hint of frustration present in his voice.

"It seems not everything is going as planned," Young butted in.

"I knew about the three capacitors he's talking about and I have predicted that not all would be repaired in the little time we have. Not everything will be repaired in the first attempt. If the engineers are unable to fix them in time, their task is to sever the connection with the rest of the ship. Then we will have as much time as we want to fix them on a later time. Though, another shutdown will be needed to reconnect them back to the power system."

"How are the repairs of the engine proceeding?" Young asked, eagerly. This was the last of the _must-fix_ components on their list.

"Adrienn, how are the repairs on the engine's unit proceeding?" Lora asked over the comm. device.

" _Estimated fifteen to twenty minutes_ ," the to-the-point reply of Adrienn, an Alterran engineer, came back.

"Not going to make it," Young stated. Even under the best of circumstances, the aliens should be on top of them ten minutes from now. Knowing his luck, they were going to be here in half that time.

"The shuttles' modifications on the outside are done. Ten more minutes and the crews working inside it will have finished the connections and software diagnostics necessary to accept the newly installed systems as well. You will have your mini-warships as requested, Captain."

Young wanted to counter, but he knew she had said it in jest. In the months they had spent together on the Destiny he had learned that Lora liked to point out any and all warlike tendencies the Terrans had. And since he'd been the one to ask her to modify the two shuttles into something resembling attack fighters, he was her preferred target to be jabbed with such pointy innuendoes. The first reaction was to be annoyed by it, but in the end, she was right and he didn't mind hearing her opinion. It wasn't strange that on this mission the military personnel weren't Alterra, or Asgard, or much less a member of the Nox race. They'd agreed on the Terrans being tasked with it because the older races knew that the best way to successfully accomplish their mission when it involved fighting weird aliens was to place the right people in the right places. Nobody was offended when Lora was selected as the lead scientist. In the same fashion, the Alterra concurred that in military matters, the Terrans were far ahead of the Edenians or Asgard. Give the Terrans technology on par with other more advanced races, and the universe will tremble in fear, and rightly so.

Almost as much as when the infamous Felger starts working on a new invention of his.

"I assure you, sooner or later you'll be glad those two shuttles can protect themselves," Young said. There would soon come a time when he will ask Lora to start a pretty ambitious project of making a drone production line and to modify the ship so that the ZPM can be used to power the incredibly advanced offensive system. He knew the Alterran would roll her eyes, would huff and puff on how it is completely unnecessary to turn the Destiny into a veritable warship, but he was confident he could wear her down, in time. In the short time he had been on the Destiny, he also understood that it was better to discuss the matter with the Alterra, even if it took days, instead of simply ordering them. He was the mission commander and he had the authority to order her to build it, but he knew it would be done scornfully. Apparently, it was a racial thing, probably the result of the Alterra having a long lifespan and hence have evolved in such a way. They thrived on debates, even if it took days or weeks. If ordered to do something, they wouldn't be angered because of him asserting his authority. They would be angered because he'd stopped a debate before all avenues of discussion weren't yet fully explored and understood.

Apparently, there were differences between their two races. After twenty minutes, he wanted for any discussion to be over, even by giving in. He had plenty of those with his ex-wife. Though he had to admit, discussions with the Alterra were much better, for, if able to provide a rationale to his thinking, he could eventually win any debate. He hadn't been so lucky while debating with his wife.

"The set up provisional sensor system has detected a ship in the vicinity. They are here," Lora stated, as a result, shifting in her chair nervously. "Are you certain of this plan?"

"Too late now for second guessing, but, just for the sake of answering, yes, I'm sure," Young stated. "Are they close enough?"

"Yes."

"Then do as planned," Young said.

Lora worked, and with the help of the provisional system, set up just for when the main power was down, the sublight engines fired. The ship was slowly moving, but after it made a mere mile, the engines spurted three times in quick succession and then died completely. As a result of the abrupt interruption of the propulsion system, the Destiny took an uncontrollable downward pitch rotation.

The large ship was now tumbling through space, as planned.

The alien ship stopped its approach less than ten miles from the Destiny, currently matching speed and direction perfectly. Suddenly, from the ship, a much smaller craft, even smaller than one of their shuttles, exited on a direct course for the Destiny. The craft steadily synced with the awkward rotation of the larger ship in order to land.

"They've landed," Lora stated simply, waiting for the console to show more. "I am now detecting two alien life signs inside of the Destiny. They have breached the outer hull."

She said it with so much venom in her voice that it made Young doubtless of her highly angered state. By making a new hole in the ship, no matter if small or large, they had made an enemy of her, and they would pay. "Their movement?"

"One signal is moving toward the chair room. The other is moving toward Eli and the largest cluster of engineers working in the main capacitor room," Lora explained.

"The former would suggest they've already had the ship's schematics instructing them where the chair room is. Maybe they even boarded the ship before, who knows. The latter it means they have sensors capable of detecting our people."

"I agree," Lora stated. "Do you think they'll notice the doors are working? Or do you think they'll make new holes in them?"

"I don't know. Let's hope they are good guests," Young said, puzzled at what troubled Lora at such a time. "ETA?"

Lora looked back at the console. "Can't be sure. Maybe five minutes to reach Eli, and double that for the other to reach the chair room. And if you are about to ask how our people are doing, most work is done except for two capacitors and the engine unit. The first alien will surely reach its target before they are finished.

"Are those the capacitors that are troubling to repair?"

"They are. I am giving the engineers as much time as I can, but if they haven't completed the repairs by the time the engine unit is repaired, I'm ordering them to cut the two capacitors off. We'll work on them while disconnected from the power system.

"Agreed," Young stated, stretching a little. He was feeling a little stiff today. Too many hours spent on his chair planning the refurbishing of the ship. "Well, there's not much else to do than wait and see."

* * *

… _in the meantime, in the capacitor room_

Stacked neatly in the main power room, six capacitors stood. They were big, each easily three meters tall, five wide, and seven long. Of the six in this particular room, four were in desperate need of repairs. Eli had purged them of all residual energy before engineers could even come near them. Before the operation began, they have identified all components that have sustained significant wear-and-tear as well as the outright broken ones. Instead of trying to repair everything, since time was of the essence, they concluded that the best course of action was to replicate the components beforehand, and then switch them as quickly as possible when the power was shut down. Of course, they could not do that with every capacitor. There were components as big as or even bigger than a car that also necessitated maintenance. Those could not be swapped without lengthy work possibly lasting hours or even days. Trying to repair instead of swapping those components was also out of the question. Thankfully, those components didn't preclude the functioning of the capacitor. They rather influenced its overall efficiency in storing energy. They would do even without working at a hundred percent because, no matter what they did today, Destiny would never again be a new and fully functional ship. That is, not without spending six months minimum inside a veritable shipyard.

If the information coming from Lora was precise, and he thought it was, they would soon have a visitor knocking on their door. Funny. The moment he said that he had also sensed a foreign presence nearby. It might have been subconsciously done, the moment he thought about it. He had just reached out and _sensed_ his surroundings.

Telepathy.

As explained by more knowledgeable people than he was, namely a bunch of Alterra who had the Repository of Knowledge downloaded into their brains, there were many types of telepathy. There was the type when you felt emotions in others, there was then the type when you could read surface thoughts, and there was also the type where you could probe someone's mind, intrusively, for whatever information you wanted to learn. There was telepathy capable of influencing people, or even such as to take full control of an individual even against his conscious will. And of course, there was the precursor of all of those mentioned above and that was the ability to simply _sense_ the presence of someone's mind near you.

Eli was the oddball. He had been the oddball even before Earth knew about aliens. Humans tend to use three to five percent of their brain for the menial, everyday tasks necessary to survive. It wasn't much, but in his opinion, most on Earth were doing well on a daily basis with much, much less than that. He, on the other hand, had been using around 17 percent of his brain when tested some seven years ago. Nobody knew what that meant exactly, especially since it seemed that there wasn't any structure to the regions of the brain he was using. It was all a jumbled random mess, and scientists could only agree - in principle at least - how higher percentages were better than lower ones. So, he had been tested and tested and found even more of an oddball than how he'd felt during high school, a time when, while he was doing all the math in his head, others were sweating bullets while using scores of sheets scribbled on as an aid to solve the simplest of math problems.

Then, some five years ago, he had joined the Terrans as a math prodigy. It appears the people in charge of the stargate had been making video games and sites on the internet with puzzles meant to find special people capable of solving real problems that weren't placed on the internet just to waste a person's afternoon. They had come to his home and gave him a job that he promptly accepted ten minutes later. The benefits were such that his mother would get the best medical care while he was going to help defend Earth against _aliens!_ He was still an oddball, but he had found a purpose in life, a place where his oddness was an asset.

Then _Genesis_ came.

The Genesis Project was meant to improve your stats. In his mind, _Genesis_ was like finally leveling up. Everybody who went through it got a massive boost to their strength, endurance and agility characteristics. These changes were also similar throughout all those who went through it. Though with the intelligence characteristic, things were different. On average a human went from using five percent of his or her brain to using fifteen percent after the treatment. And here was where the mess began because the change affected random regions of the brain. The result was that some people were remembering things better, other were suddenly capable of multiplying large numbers with ease, and others did not feel any change at all. There was also the problem that if he went through _Genesis_ and the process was consistent, then he could end up with a diminished brain capacity. Thankfully, there were a few who scored above twenty and went through the process without any negative effects, which gave him the fortitude to go through it too.

And he leveled up at 38 percent brain activity. The highest score on Earth.

It also seemed that in some rare cases, a special skill would be added to your stats. In his case, he got _'Telepathic Sixth Sense'_ added. His highest score and specific ability to sense living creatures close to him, going so far as to discern who the person was before they even came into visual range, had prompted the Terrans to turn him into a sort of guinea pig to be tested, and tested, and prodded, and then tested a little more. Actually, one of the reasons why he had decided to come to Destiny was to shake those self-proclaimed experts in this new field called Psionics from bothering him. He hadn't understood back then how stubborn these people were. He did understand when two of them followed him through the stargate to this several billion light years distant and several million years old ship.

They would never leave him alone, he knew it. He would die of old age with one of them having hooked electrodes to his skull while monitoring what was going on inside that brain of his. They were also making him do tasks supposedly to measure if there were changes or not and to see if he had some other latent skill still not added to his personal stat sheet. It was true that since the initial change he had gained three more percent. He was now at 41 percent, with the last one percent jump having happened only last week. It was making the two Psionic _'experts'_ all giddy about it. He didn't know why and he suspected they didn't either. Frankly, nobody knew what was going on with him, not even the few Alterra he had asked. Some were saying that this is a normal reaction because they were forcing him to do mental tasks tailored to improve his abilities and, as they explained it, to reach his true potential. To him, it all sounded like pure bullshit, and there were also others who thought that doing multiplications in his head or stuff like that didn't do squat to change his brain usage. Whatever the truth was, though, he had to admit that it was becoming easier to sense others around him and discern who they were.

Just like now. He could feel many minds around him, but only one felt foreign to him. It was a powerful mind, not like when he sensed a dog or some other animal near him. No, the mind that he was feeling was complex. Complex as a Terran mind or maybe even more so, he couldn't be certain. He turned toward the door and saw it standing there. A tall, bluish alien.

Eli saw him, and the alien saw him back. They were staring at each other, the alien still outside in the hall while Eli was near one of the large capacitors, less than ten meters away. The alien had some weird pistol in his left hand, and a wristband with some gadgets on it on the right one, and a strange tight black suit that covered his body. The alien began walking, intent on coming inside the large power room.

The alien unceremoniously slammed with its face into a suddenly visible blue forcefield. The alien was looking at the frame of the door, probably trying to see where the emitters were in order to disable them. The alien then looked at Eli, letting out some strange and, most probably, very angry sound Eli could only categories as inhuman. To tell the truth, the alien almost sounded like a rooster.

It would have been better for the alien if he had the _telepathic sixth sense_ skill among his other skills, whatever those might be, just like Eli did. If he did, he would have sensed another presence very near him. With the useful skill, the alien would have known that beside him there was a cloaked human, though he wouldn't know that it was wearing the marine version of the Terran power armor. Even with that skill, it would not have helped him one bit.

Eli saw as something grabbed the alien's hand that was holding the gun. Then, he saw several abrupt movements the alien's head forcefully made caused by nothing else than Greer using him as a punching bag. Three punches with a fist encased inside a power armor's glove, and the now bloodied alien wasn't there anymore, at least not mentally. It was bleeding, drooling and mostly glaring at a nondescript point on the floor completely out of it.

"Ouch. That had to hurt," Eli stated. He was hoping Greer didn't go too far. They needed somebody to interrogate and find who these aliens were after all. Somebody that hadn't been turned into a vegetable. Not his worry, though. His job right now was to deal with the capacitors.

" _Eli, the engine unit has been repaired. I will need the power back in two minutes,_ " Lora's voice came over his earpiece.

"Will do, Eli out," Eli replied, immediately moving toward one of the two capacitors that were giving them a headache and the chief engineer standing there and overseeing the repairs. "How are we doing?"

"Not good. We need at least half an hour to repair them," the engineer reported regretfully.

"Cut them off the grid. We need the power back online in one minute," Eli said. There was no time to discuss this.

The chief talked to one engineer and then went talking to another. Eli couldn't see what the other was doing but the first engineer took some cutting tool that easily burned the three inches thick superconductive cable connected to the capacitor. He was sure the other guy had done the same.

The chief engineer came back. "It is done."

Eli tapped his earpiece. "Lora, I'm reestablishing power throughout the ship now." He worked on the tablet in his hand, and seconds later, the ship came back to life. They wouldn't need the magnetic boots to move around anymore, and the air would soon become warmer and less stale, thanks to the re-engaged life support system.

 _"Thank you, Eli. Power has been restored throughout the ship,"_ he heard Lora's voice through his earpiece.

His job was done.

* * *

… _Lora and Young back on the bridge_

"He didn't have to hit him so hard!" Lora protested.

Young was rolling his eyes. Five minutes ago he had watched through Scott's camera as the alien had entered the chair room. Scott was cloaked and the alien was blissfully unaware of his presence. The alien moved to the rear of the chair, quickly connecting some cables from his wristband. It took him about a minute before the alien put a strange and puzzling expression on his face. No wonders there since they had copied and then erased all data from the chair, all done more than a week ago.

In the meantime, Scott had sneaked behind the alien, still very much embroiled in trying to find out what was wrong with the chair. Scott had then decloaked, just before tapping twice on the alien's left shoulder. It seemed even these aliens had similar facial expressions as humans did when conveying surprise and fear, as that was exactly what they were seeing once the alien had turned and saw a six hundred pounds metallic monster standing there. The uppercut that sent it flying above and beyond the chair ended its general cluelessness, the same instant as his conscious thoughts, whatever those might have been.

"It isn't easy to limit the power of those powered suits," Young defended, although he knew very well that Scott could have gone easier on the poor alien. Hopefully, they would quickly learn enough about their alien physiology to provide it with first aid.

Lora was giving him a glare conveying her incredulity, but they needed to deal with other matters now. "We have power now and it is only a matter of moments before their ship realizes that."

"Be ready to raise shields on the first sign of threat," Young said before tapping his earpiece. "Lorenz, come in."

"Lorenz here," the voice came over the comm.

"Have you disabled their craft?" Young asked.

"Not exactly, Captain. Disabling their craft is a no go. Too many unknown systems," Lorenz's response came.

"We need that ship disabled. It could have a self-destruct capable of blowing a good chunk of where it is attached to the Destiny's hull."

"Already ahead of you, Captain. I placed small explosives below the craft. Our hull will have to be painted again, but their craft will be blown away. Do I have permission to proceed?"

"You have," Young responded. They needed the thing gone.

A light tremor was felt, just before Lorenz's reply came. "The craft is gone, Captain."

"Good job," Young stated before terminating the connection. He then turned to Lora. "Raise the shield and power weapons and engines. Get us moving on a trajectory parallel to the alien ship and inside our ship weapons' range"

"I have done as you've asked, however, Captain, I don't have to remind you that our energy reserves after the purge are at eleven percent, and we still need to find a suitable star, possibly far from here, where to recharge the capacitors."

In order to purge the energy from the capacitors before they could be serviced, Eli had shunned all that energy into the recently rebuilt shielding system of the Destiny. It meant that, as far as shields went, they were currently overpowered and ready to absorb whatever the aliens threw at them. However, the main reserves were dangerously low, and they needed to find a suitable star to recharge them, hopefully, charged to a much higher degree than before. Still, the annoying aliens would most certainly chase them and they would be in the same predicament during recharge as they were now, or it could be even worse.

"I know that we do. However, if we knock the aliens a little, they may have to spend some time here repairing their ship, during which time we could recharge the ship," Young explained as he sat in his chair on the bridge. He had taken control of the weapons now.

"I cannot fault your logic, Captain, except if for the risk of wasting our reserves if you fail in damaging the alien ship in any meaningful way," Lora stated.

"There is that to think about, yes. However, I am a very optimistic person, and the aliens still don't know what is going on," Young replied, but most of his attention was now on the slowly diminishing distance between them and the alien ship. Lora had put their ship on a tangent with the alien ship. They would pass it maybe a few hundred kilometers on their starboard side. Suddenly, the icon of the main cannon turned yellow. He had familiarized himself with the system and he knew that yellow meant they had entered extreme weapons range. It was a dynamic system in which the computer calculated the value based on the little information it had about the enemy and the capabilities of their weapons. Extreme range meant both that the alien ship had a chance of evading and that the fired energy bolt could have its containment matrix destabilized before impact.

As they continued pushing further, the alien ship fired first.

The impact was felt throughout the ship. The aliens had some powerful main weapon at their disposal. He did not have to ask, as his console was showing everything he needed to know about their shield status. He had seen as the shield matrix was far from being overloaded. With the newly installed emitters and the shield generator brought back to standard, it would take a ten times stronger punch to overwhelm it. The only other option for the alien was to hit the ship so many times that it depletes its considerable reserve. They were not going to spend that much time here; that was for certain.

The icon of the main gun finally turned green. Young put the slider up to seventy percent, the amount of power the engineers told him the weapon was capable of firing with the patchwork they had applied. They also told him not to use it more than two or three times in quick succession or their work could come undone. As the inputted targeting solution was accepted by the system, he pushed the firing button.

An orange bolt of destructive energy raced from the underside of the Destiny and impacted the shield of the alien vessel exactly in front of the weapon it fired from only seconds ago. The instruments were showing there was no penetration, however, the shield did sustain considerable strain. Destiny's sensors detected the impact and analyzed the enemy's shield complexity and modulation. In mere seconds the ship modified its main weapon to improve its penetrability.

Young pushed the firing button again, and the tri-barrel fired from its central one this time. The impact happened again in the same spot. This time the impact had caused increased stress on the alien shield and there was also a spurt of energy that went through impacting the hull beneath. Unfortunately, it did not harm their main weapon, easily discernable since another bolt came rushing back at them. The Destiny shook again. The analysis was showing that the aliens were trying to modulate their weapon as well in order to penetrate the shield. Young knew they would not succeed.

However, thanks to the second impact, the latest modifications to their own main cannon would change things. The third bolt raced from the Destiny and impacted the alien ship. Young didn't know if it was the sole doing of their weapon, or if they got lucky and hit it just as it was charging. No matter what the reason was, the alien main cannon blew up in a spectacular way, which was the important part.

The Destiny was sliding next to the alien ship, and Young selected the secondary weapons array, put it on full auto and raised the slider up to full power. He then pushed the firing button, which on full auto remained pressed down.

The many turrets on the port side began barking bolts of destructive energy as if there was no tomorrow, all of them configured for maximum effect. He turned to look at Lora with a smile, but it didn't last long. Lora looked pretty annoyed, and she was tapping on her monitor for some reason. She was apparently trying to tell him something. He glanced back at his monitor, and in the upper corner, he saw the energy reserves just went to 9.3%. The main weapon was a power hog, there was no other explanation. Three shots not even at full power took almost two percent of Destiny's precious reserves.

He quickly pressed the already depressed firing button again, effectively stopping the weapons from firing. "Plot a course for the nearest suitable star. Let's recharge our reserves, shall we?"

Lora worked on her console, and seconds later a slight tremor was felt. They were back in FTL. "Done. As you can see, Captain, although old, the Destiny is able to protect itself from threats. No need for the mini-warships you asked or anything else."

"Actually, I was thinking that we could maybe make a small drone production line and a launch system," he asked, knowing she wouldn't like it. No matter what, the drones were ideal to be added to the ancient ship. They'd need very little changes in it, except to make a hole from where to shoot them from.

"I was about to ask why would we ever need such an advanced weapon system on our mission, but then I remembered that you Terrans don't need a reason for adding more weapons," Lora said, her expression still conveying annoyance. "You realize that a production line for the drones is among the most difficult to make and that it has many components that are very difficult to produce. Furthermore, I don't believe we have the blueprints for the Mark III drones. Even for the Mark II, you need the high energy subspace band transfer technology your scientist Rodney McKay invented. This will considerably complicate production of all the components.

"Then make the Mark I drones. The original version. I don't need some increased destructive power, I just need them to be able to pass through their shield and disable them. I also need them because of the same reason as for why I wanted the fast attack ships. I want a way to shoot at an enemy even if it stands behind us with more than just a few small plasma turrets.

There was a beeping sound coming from the console. "The alien ship is broadcasting a subspace signal."

"Any way we can translate what the message says?" Young asked.

"We do not know their language. In order to translate, we would need to know at least that much," Lora added.

"That makes sense. With all the tech we have at our disposal, I sometimes forget that it isn't magic that can do anything."

Again, there was another beep coming from the console. "I am detecting a ship with the same hyper-signature as the alien ship we just fought."

"Where?" young asked.

"It is seven thousand light years from us. Their general direction is towards us, or maybe the other alien vessel, I cannot know. We are still too close to each other to differentiate our locations," Lora said noticing something else. "There's another one… and another… and another."

Lora had stopped speaking, now fully immersed in staring at the console. Apparently, there were more. Young let her a minute before asking. "How many?"

"Seven in a radius of seven thousand light years," Lora responded.

"Am I correct in assuming that's because our sensors can reach only that far out?" young asked. He didn't know for certain, but he knew their sensor could not detect a hyper-footprint everywhere in the galaxy. There were limits to what even their new sensor suite was capable of.

"Yes, seven thousand is the farthest we can detect other ships during their hyper-transit," Lora responded, still a little phased. Apparently, she thought there wouldn't be so many alien warships to worry about, and seven thousand light years radius meant there could be many times that number in this galaxy that was almost double the size of the Milky Way.

"So, I believe we were discussing building a small drone production line, yes?" Young said knowingly while smiling.

* * *

 ** _Thanks for reading. Reviews are always appreciated._**


	11. Clean Up

**Author's note:** Had to do some last minute changes. It took a few days to go through the whole chapter.

 _ **Thanks to my beta, and hope you'll like reading this chapter too.**_

* * *

"I'm telling you, it would be better if the Terran Congress were filled with slimy, backstabbing politicians instead of what we have right now," Captain Philips, Terran Army, said while walking on the grassy ground of Quiril. He had to say it. If it weren't for the monstrosities presently crawling all over the planet, it wouldn't be such a bad place to live on.

"You don't mean that," Doctor Jennifer Keller responded while busily checking some crates with some medical equipment that had just arrived.

"I'm sorry, Doc, but one of the jobs of the Congress _must_ be to slow down progress to a crawl. This ensures stability. Instead, that bunch of workaholic overachievers currently comprising both our Congress and Council - with all their ideas, improvements, plans and whatever else they can think of doing next - are going to make the Terran Federation change so much on an almost daily basis that nobody will know what is what or what laws or policies are in effect," Philips explained further while shaking his head in disapproval.

"Hey! I am one of those workaholic overachievers in the Congress that you're speaking of and my husband is also a member of the Council!" Keller shouted, but there was no real anger in her voice.

"I rest my case," Philips replied while giving her a meaningful glare. "To me, it looks like you and your husband are trying to save the universe on your own in different ways… while making policies for the Terran Federation as a side job; just to not get bored too much or something. Frankly, it freaks me out. You should enjoy life more instead of working 24/7."

"But we are enjoying life. And now that we have a much, much longer lifespan, such way of living our lives is something more people should adopt," Keller replied.

"I don't get it. Why is it so important to break your back by working so much instead of simply enjoying yourself?"

"Because devoting your life to enjoying oneself, promoting oneself, getting reach by oneself and plainly behaving selfishly could be fun for a handful of decades. However, there is a limit on how long you can do those things with yourself always at the center before they become repetitive and boring. Instead, if you devote your life to others, then you can spend the next three hundred years and it still wouldn't be enough, I assure you. And if in the process you start enjoying what you're doing for your society or other individuals, then I think you will survive most of your now very long life that is still ahead of you with a smile daily present on your face."

This made Philips think. It was true that doing things for oneself would eventually become boring. On the other hand, while doing different things for others, as McKay and Keller were doing, could be fulfilling for much longer. A lifespan of three hundred years - as it was now the new normal among the Terrans who went through the Genesis Project - wasn't easy to fill with interesting things to do. However, if you spend your life going around the galaxy meeting people, helping people, or discovering the wonders of the universe like McKay was doing while progressing your society through your work, could be a path to a very long but also very fulfilling life. He was also having thoughts about his own future in the military. Was he going to be a soldier a hundred years from now? Maybe he should start thinking on how to broaden his horizons. How to become something more than just a soldier. He liked being one, and he wasn't planning to leave the Army, but maybe he could be other things, too, like the Kellers were.

He was never going into politics, though. No matter what.

"Okay, Doc, you have a point there. Still, the Federal government should adopt some of the attitudes of the average down to Earth politician. Too many changes, too many revolutionary ideas, all applied too quickly could destabilize our newly formed, unified nation. Anyway, that's something I wouldn't like to see happen anytime soon, or ever," He said, just as a hammerhead flew over the encampment, quickly going for a landing not all that far from where they were. It was probably bringing more refugees found elsewhere on the planet. The ship could easily pick hundreds at a time and bring them back here where it was safer and where they could be treated, mostly for injuries but also malnutrition and other maladies.

Philips looked around. The encampment was roughly a thousand acres and formed such a perfect square that he thought they had resurrected Pythagoras just for the job. Pylons ten meters tall and placed every hundred meters apart were casting a plasma force field between them, effectively surrounding and isolating the encampment. In the beginning, he didn't understand why the use of a force field for protection instead of a shield. They told him it was because, as opposed to a shield, a plasma force field used minute amounts of energy to work. One pylon would cast the forcefield while the other pylon would receive it and recast it back only a few microns apart from the first plane. It was an endless loop that created two layers with almost no energy loss except for when hit by something. In addition, the top side was open, which allowed landing inside the encampment for ships much easier than having to deal with an energy bubble. For possible hostiles that could attack them from the sky, there were SAM batteries inside the perimeter and the swarm of F-302 constantly patrolling the skies to take care of them. Of course, that wasn't all. Outside of the perimeter, every fifteen meters on average there was a Cylon on patrol ready to intervene if a Crab or a Hunter came inside its sensor range. Farther out, the TT-X4 tanks were creating an outer perimeter needed if some reaper decided to come by. The TT-X4 was only a minor improvement over the already very advanced TT-X3 tank. It was less heavy than its predecessor and in conjunction with an antigravity unit it allowed the tank to levitate and even leap across slopes with ease if and when needed. The tank couldn't fly, but if somebody saw it leap from a ledge while moving at 75 miles per hour with its antigravity unit active and easily landing a mile away, they would think that maybe it could after all.

Only the strong shield, capable of being deployed only while the tank was stationary, overshadowed the main dual plasma pulse cannons, the two grav-miniguns capable of working independently and spitting six thousand 10mm bullets per minute each, or the modest reserve of 40 Mark I drones. After taking Asura from the replicators, the Terrans had built several millions of the Asuran drones before the Mark II version with McKay's energy transfer system came by. The surplus of Asuran drones, those that were only partially successful in mimicking the original ancient version, were used to supply the Terran Army and their ground units until reserves were depleted. The only possible negative attribute of the powerful tank was that, while moving, it needed to rely on its cloak because all Terran devised shields when hitting solid obstacles while moving created overloads in its generator, with very bad outcomes.

Philips didn't know what his exact job was as of late, except maybe to make sure that no one from the _Peace Corps_ decided to wander in the woods without telling anyone. There were those in the _Peace Corps_ who wanted to find as many survivors as possible, even if it meant getting lost themselves. They were simply that kind of people and arguing with them that they should leave that job to the military fell on deaf ears most times. He knew that his light infantry wasn't needed right now, not with the many other types of units present on the planet. Besides the tanks, soldiers in their new TPA-X1 bulky power armor were also out seeking hostiles. After a lengthy debate, it was decided that soldiers wearing power armor would be categorized as armored units instead of infantry like he was. The main reason for that was because in the infantry a squad was the smallest deployable unit and was comprised of nine people, including a squad leader and two four-man fire teams. Nine Terrans in power armor were almost like having nine walking tanks, which was overkill in ninety-nine percent of the cases. Power armored (PA) units often worked independently or in pairs.

The Army's power armor unit was second only to the TPA-X2 power armor developed specifically for the Terran Space Marine Corp (TSMC). Since their motto went something in the general direction of 'beam in fast, leave nothing standing, and beam out even faster', they wanted a power armor unit on steroids. The TPA-X2 looked even bulkier, it had high energy capacitors embedded deep inside the suit and was capable of generating an amazing amount of raw power. The armor could create a strengthening field that made the material seem ten times denser – thanks to tech reverse engineered from Jack's wristband coming straight from an unknown number of years into the future - it could cloak, it could do short range teleportation, and it could feed high power weapons like plasma torches or high-speed 3mm flechette miniguns capable of cutting down everything in front of them with a fire rate of 15.000 flechettes per minute. The armor could have an extra backpack attached that allowed it to leap and bounce like a mad kangaroo because of the antigravity unit and the small thrusters in it. Just like the tank, the power armored unit couldn't fly, but sometimes it could fool people into thinking that it could.

All this was great, but things like cloaking, teleportation, a strengthening field, and powerful weapons all were strong drains on the suit's finite energy reserves. That was why the marines used the high-power capacitors capable of delivering the needed massive power output. The negative side of using them - to a lot of people, a very controversial choice - was that the crystals could be depleted very quickly since they couldn't hold as much energy as the Marine Corps would have liked. Under max usage, the TPA-X2 could end up completely drained of energy in under half an hour. Of course, under normal usage, it lasted for hours, but it was still too little for some other branches of the Terran military, if not for the TSMC too.

It was true, though, that with the right weapon a marine in a power armor could be almost as deadly as a TT-X4, but much more flexible in their movement.

On the other hand, the Terran Army wanted a unit that could last for days at the very least instead of mere hours, even if it meant limiting the unit's overall strength. It was the difference between the two branches of the military. The Army needed units that when deployed could guard or canvas a large area for days on end, with the people inside the heavy suits sleeping if necessary without ever needing to taking it off. Because of it, their version of the Power Armor was a little less intimidating and used a Naquadah mini-generator located on the back of the suit instead of the high capacity crystals of its TSMC's counterpart. The generator was capable of providing power for days even under strain and with the help of a teammate, the cylinder containing Naquadah could be cooled down, extracted and replace with a new one, all without the need for the wearer to remove the armored suit in less than twenty minutes. The suit needed to be disengaged and opened from behind, unlike the Combat Suit he currently wore, hence not easy to do while surrounded by hostiles and certainly not something been done every five minutes. The army version could not create a strengthening field that made the armor ten times stronger. Their field could create a Material Density Enhancement Factor (MDEF) of 2.7 at the most. In addition, no Army unit used the power-hungry plasma torches the marines liked so much using, as they would certainly suck the life out of their more modest power source. The 3mm flechette minigun was all right, but most soldiers preferred the Terran Heavy Rifle THR-X1 as their choice of weapon. The heavy grav-rifle used 10mm bullets coming in three flavors. Standard, armor-piercing and explosive rounds. A few scientists wanted to make incendiary ammo as well simply because they saw it in some video game. However, smarter people above them quickly let them know that being needlessly cruel to your enemy for no good reason wasn't a good trait, much less having seen it in a video game and using it as the main if not only deciding factor. An explosive round propelled at 1,200 meters per second would do the job just fine against most foes. It was well known that the speed of the bullet was such that many would die from the shock of the impact even if hit in non-vital areas like a hand or maybe even a toe.

As a second choice, some soldiers were choosing the newly developed, high caliber rifle that fired smart bullets. The mini drones the Atlantis expedition had witnessed once on a planet in the Pegasus galaxy had given them the idea of building something similar, yet, still conform with the overall Terran doctrine of creating weapons and ammo that could easily be mass produced in great quantities. The 20mm smart bullet was a relatively slow mover capable of achieving 400 meters per second speed, a similar velocity as that of bullets fired from handheld guns. The bullet was still a far cry from a mini drone, not worth being compared even. While homing in on its designated target, it could make only small corrections on its initial trajectory as it had no dedicated propulsion system. Yet, it was much cheaper to build than the mini-drones, it didn't need a complex fire & control system unlike the mini-drones, and when fired, most soldiers could be certain the bullet would land where it was supposed to if they at least fired it in the general direction of the intended target. The only negative side of the weapon was the limited amount of ammo a soldier could carry compared to the much smaller 10mm bullet. With a five times smaller volume, it meant carrying ten instead o fifty bullets per clip.

The TPA-X1 Power Armor had a cloaking device, the ability to temporarily cast a forward shield from its hand emitter, similar to what was used by the Vanir, but there was no teleportation system installed, which again needed to suck a lot of power in order to teleport the 600 pounds combined weight of the heavy armor and soldier. It was something his standard third generation light combat suit had while the Army's power armored suit didn't. Since the combat suit he wore was a little under 40 pounds heavy - as opposed to the much heavier Power Armor - his embedded energy capacitors were enough to fully charge the teleportation device in five minutes flat. The device could then be used three or four times depending on the distance, which was up to a hundred meters max.

Besides all these relatively new goodies that were coming out from the Terran R&D department as if they were candies, planet Quiril was also the testing bed for the Terran first gunship. The flier could not leave the planet's atmosphere and did not have any passenger seats. In order to make it as small as possible, the gunship has only one seat for the pilot who, through a helmet that incorporated some Ancient technology, partially operated the vehicle by mental control, just like the puddle jumper. The gunship was light, small, and capable of going through the gate when folded. It also had an antigravity unit, state of the art inertial dampeners and turbines to make it move quickly and with incredible agility. The gunship was so fast and nimble that it got it the name of GS-351 _Hummingbird_.

As weapons went, the gunship was very versatile. It could have two 10mm grav-miniguns or two plasma cannons mounted on the sides. As the secondary arsenal, it had 36 micro-missiles or up to 24 drones. With its speed, nimble nature, and especially while combined with a cloak, the gunship was the perfect aerial unit to seek ground targets. During the one month since Daniel and Vala's rescue, the _Hummingbird_ had been responsible for the killing of almost 70% of the Crabs and Hunters found on the planet. The F-302B bombers carrying cluster or napalm bombs killed most of the rest. The infantry had to deal with the rest, mostly in the form of Crab stragglers. An infantry squad was comprised of nine people, two four-people fire teams lead by a sergeant. A corporal, who also doubled as a controller of two Cylons - just like the sergeant did - led each fire team. It meant that a squad was comprised of nine soldiers and six controlled Cylons. Quiril's theater was the perfect testbed for the Cylons to be utilized more as they were easily programmed to seek Crabs and Hunters, while all humans were simply flagged as friendlies and hence not to be fired upon under any circumstances. With the additional instructions given by the corporal or sergeant, their controllers, they could easily be employed to great effect. They were always ahead of the soldiers, with their sensors scanning and notifying if hostiles or stragglers were detected. In many occasions when faced against Crabs, the soldiers did nothing while the Cylons systematically killed all hostiles in sight. In fact, some soldiers had started complaining that they had turned into nothing more than mules, as their role had changed into that of carrying additional munition for the Cylons. Philips, as the company's CO, had told them to shut up and enjoy the nice walk through the prairie.

They were being paid anyway.

The last enemy on the planet were the Reapers, which the _Hummingbird_ could easily deal with, especially when loaded with drones. When it ran out of drones, the _Hummingbird_ would simply cloak and return to base for rearmament. Although, most Reapers were taken care of by the F-302c Vipers, always on patrol everywhere they were needed on the planet.

"Give them some time and they will. I mean, it's been less than three years since inception and everyone is still excited and wants to make big changes. Another decade and everything will calm down, especially once the war is over," Keller responded as she finished with the inspection of the new medical cargo.

Philips had almost forgotten that they were talking about the Congress and the overachievers in it. He was now more interested in the situation on Quiril anyhow. "Tell me straight, Doc. You've been in other encampments we set up on this planet. Is there as bad as it is here or..."

The good Doctor looked at him, giving a long sigh. "Maybe even worse than here, I can't be certain without checking some specific data that we are still in the process of collecting. From what we have gathered, the Quirilian population has gone below one percent. It is difficult to believe that what it took thousands of years was eliminated in mere months."

"From what I remember, Quiril had almost a billion people on the planet. Then the Ori came, and even though they weren't here to commit genocide, they still managed to kill around 50 million people. And now this. Bellow one percent means there couldn't be more than ten million Quirilians on the planet now.

"Less. I think there are around seven million. Those are the predictions my team is dealing with when we are deciding on how many medical supplies we'll need," Keller looked around the camp. Around five hundred meters from their position, a prefabricated medical center stood with people being ushered inside. It must be those that had just been brought by the _Hammerhead_ no more than ten minutes ago. "Who knows what's going to happen to these people?"

"I heard they are gonna enact the Omega Protocol, Doc. Level five or maybe even five-plus," Philips responded. It was only rumored, but he wouldn't be surprised if they really did it, just like with the Langarans. The Omega Protocol meant uplifting a society to a certain level. Five was pretty high and if they were really serious about it, they were going to provide the Quirilians with both the knowledge and the infrastructure needed. It meant the planet built completely anew with free energy coming from fusion reactors, antigravity units, energy capacitors, and of course shipyards and the knowledge on how to build ships at the level of the other space-faring human races like the Langarans, Optricans, Galarans and other. Once the basic needs were returned to the Quirilians, big changes would come on Quiril, and knowing the people on this planet, most would choose to board the newly built ships and go in search for the Crabs and Hunters for some target practice. A time will certainly come when even the Hunters will understand the mistake they've made in targeting the human race, as he was sure no human from this planet and many others would rest until every last Hunter or Crab were eradicated.

Philips also knew that it wasn't purely altruistic what the Terrans were thinking of doing. They knew the time would come when most of the Terran forces, together with the Asgard and Edenians, would have to leave on an offensive campaign against the Vargas. A campaign that could last for a very long time and lead them to a very faraway place. Having human worlds capable of cleaning up the mess the Vargas left behind on who knows how many planets was something they need to take into consideration while making their long-term predictions and plans.

"I would be happy to hear that the Terran Federation is trying to uplift these people if I didn't know how 30 percent of the population will end up in the military," Keller said shaking her head. "From seven million people, I expect two will join the war and the rest won't only because there are those who'll still need to stay and work to feed their people and fuel the military apparatus."

"Don't think many will spend time producing food, Doc. With how pissed off they are, I'm sure they'll survive with the machines we are gifting them, those capable of making proteins bar at no cost, albeit disgusting. The Quirilians are so bent on making the aliens pay that I don't think they'd care," Philips Explained. He was predicting that at least fifty percent, in one way or another, would join the military. The worst part was that what the Quirilians were doing was actually healthy, as the alternative instead of anger was for the survivors to fall into a state of deep depression at the thought of their ruined civilization.

"It's possible… and sad at the same time," Keller said. "Anyway, do you have any idea when you'll be done with the cleanup job around here so that my people can go around searching for survivors and for the rest of the Corps to try to rebuild at least a few cities?"

As cleanup went, this one went better than predicted. Two weeks ago they had a big operation in seven of the largest cities in the area. Also, the last time he had participated in any real action. Aerial surveillance of the city that concerned him the most had confirmed the presence of a large number of Crabs, but also Hunters and Reapers. They were starting to hide, as they must have understood that taking the Terrans head on and without support from space was tantamount to suicide, and they were not about to make things easier for them, no matter how desperate their situation was. Holed up in the largest cities, they must be thinking that rooting them out would be much bloodier for the Terrans. However, that wasn't what he had witnessed firsthand.

* * *

… _a few days after the initial assault on the city Zara_

Philips was the commander of one of the light infantry companies on the planet, with 330 soldiers under his command, spread in six platoons, each with six squads made of nine soldiers and six Cylons controlled by the two corporals and the squads' sergeant, their leader. Operation _Levant_ had begun on July 28, 2014, in which the objective was the elimination of any hostile combatants in the seven largest cities in the Northern region on the only continent on the entire planet. The plan was for these seven cities to be freed in order to provide enough housing for the Quirilians still alive, for them to slowly begin rebuilding their society – or what was left of it – with aid received by the Terrans, and as a staging area for follow-up operations oriented toward the south. From his battalion, his and another light infantry company had been tasked to take the city of Zara with the support of one Tank company comprised of four platoons with four tanks each, a power armor (PA) company comprised of four platoons, each comprised of six squads with two Power Armored units and four Mark II Cylons in each, and an aerial company comprised of six squadrons with six _Hummingbirds_ in each. In total, they had six-hundred-and-sixty infantry soldiers in third generation combat suits and two-hundred-and-sixteen Mark I Cylons from the infantry companies, sixteen TT-X4 tanks, forty-eight Power Armor units and 96 Mark II Cylons from the two armored companies, and for last, thirty-six _Hummingbirds_ to watch over them from above. If in the Second World War somebody said that they were trying to take an entire city that at some point had held one hundred thousand people with that minute number of soldiers, everyone would have laughed to the point of agony. However, in this case, it was not only doable, but he'd also thought they could do it with relative ease. One reason for his confidence was, of course, the kind of firepower and protection every single unit in the Terran Army had at their disposal, even down to the individual soldier. Even their _light_ infantry in their combat suits would have wreaked havoc in WWII even against a two order of magnitude larger opponents. However, the true reason why he thought the enemy stood no chance whatsoever was something else.

All hostile ground units had no ranged weapons whatsoever. And the modest number of flying Reapers simply could not compensate for that.

The devised plan was simple. The major threat were the Reapers and they needed to be neutralized first. To achieve that, the tanks and the PA units would, under the cover of the _Hummingbirds_ , dash into the city and occupy strategic locations. They would take large intersections or other places in the city on higher grounds from where the tanks could target a larger area with their heavier plasma cannons or their drones while deploying their heavy shield for protection, deemed impenetrable by any hostile unit present on the planet.

After that, his company's job would finally begin. The infantry wouldn't have such an easy job, though, as they would have to crawl through the city, alley by alley, building by building in an attempt to flush out all hostiles. Of course, if they were to sweep every single building, they would still be at it a year later. Thankfully, they had recon drones - oval and no bigger than a fist - that had great sensors and a laser capable of cutting through doors. The latter allowed them to slip inside rooms to check if maybe there were Hunters hiding inside by any chance. The probability of that being the case was small since Hunters weren't really the hiding type, but they couldn't take the chance of assuming this was always the case. Once the infantry finished with their sweep and joined the tanks and PA units at the front, the dash into the next section of the city would commence. The process would be repeated until they went through the entire city. The predictions were talking about cleaning more than 99.9 percent of enemy combatants in less than two weeks. They were only worried that a few Hunters could slip between the cracks and lay low, hidden in the sewer or some other dark place.

These orders and instructions on how to proceed had been passed down from HQ by his direct superior and battalion commander, Major Sergei Kharkov, and he had passed them down to the individual lieutenants in charge of the platoons. After that, he spent the next seven days during the operation in a mobile command unit where he had monitored everything that was happening down to the individual camera placed on a soldier, tank, or aerial unit in the entire theater. He, of course, mostly focused on his own company and what the individuals in it were doing.

During the initial dash of the armored units, many hostiles had come out of the woodwork rushing at them and it didn't take long for them to meet groups of Crabs crawling down the streets. They were also the easiest to succumb to the heavy tanks' fire because, against their ultra-mega advanced targeting system, there simply wasn't escape. The operator inside the crawler only needed to squeeze the trigger when the system identified an enemy and the Crab would instantly explode in a shower of blood and gore caused by the too many fired bullets from the swiveling miniguns. Engagements against the PA units weren't any better - or fairer - as the Crabs could not harm any of them while the PA units easily took out the Crabs with the explosive ammo they utilized. It was one sided, and Philips had begun taking longer and longer breaks outside of the vehicle because of it. It also seemed that the enemy was retreating, especially the Hunters. They certainly were smarter than the Crabs or even the Reapers. Or maybe it wasn't even that. Maybe it was that the Hunters were the only sentient species of the three, as the Reapers and the Crabs seemed to not have any survival instinct.

While eliminating enemies, as they went, the _heavies_ were grabbing key positions in large squares and other places where there was a good vintage point. There, the tanks would stop and deploy their heavy shield. They could not move with their shield deployed, but a tank had just turned into a fortress that even a swarm of a hundred of the smallest Reapers would have difficulties breaking through its defenses. With the tanks in position, now it was time for the trailing soldiers in power armor and their Cylon companion to finish with their sweep of the main roads while the light infantry was to check smaller alleys and buildings for the remote possibility of a Hunter hiding in them. This was actually the most dangerous part of the entire operation, as inside the buildings the Hunters were very dangerous. This was also the reason why the Cylons went first. Even if cut in half, they could later rebuild it anew.

People were not so easy to patch up.

However, what left him the strongest impression during the entire operation was when he had watched a video feed from one of the flying _Hummingbirds_. The pilot was a pro, with thousands of hours spent practicing in virtual reality as well as while flying the real thing until he honed his skills close to perfection. He remembered watching as the _Hummingbird_ was quickly moving between buildings, organically strafing aside every time it needed to enter another alley so that it could immediately point its weapons at any hostile it might find there. Then it would dive to ground level, turn to point its nose toward building entrances to see if somebody was maybe hiding there, only to make a quick 180 degree turn to check the same thing on the other side, the whole time strafing down the street. Then it would regain altitude and continue flying in search for the next street to search. What the pilot was doing seemed unbelievably easy. The level of dexterity he was showing reminded him of kids when they practice on their skateboards so much that they could do whatever they wanted with the board as if it had become an extension of their own body.

Suddenly, a plasma bolt was seen, which the pilot barely evaded, only to turn the bird and hastily give chase. He didn't know when the pilot had fired a drone, but he could now see it on the camera quickly gaining on the fleeing Reaper. In the beginning, Reapers seemed pretty dumb. However, after a few situations in which the Terrans had lured a great number of Reapers into a trap, they had eventually learned their lesson. The Reapers were now exclusively performing hit and run tactics, which in some rare occasions had allowed them to take out a few of our soldiers on patrol unfortunate enough to be found without any support while in the open. However, now a Reaper was against a _Hummingbird_ and worse even, against a freshly fired drone.

Only seconds later, the drone hit the Reaper, both turning into a small fireball. However, it seemed that this too was part of a more elaborate trap set by the Reapers. There were two more Reapers in a side alley firing at the gunship as the bird crossed the intersection. Again, the pilot quickly changed altitude and angle, but to no avail. A few plasma bolts hit the light shield that surrounded the gunship. When it came to shields, the Terran had mastered them, as long as they could form a closed bubble, which meant that all aerial units now had them. Still, the _Hummingbird_ was small and it had a limited power supply. Therefore, its shield fell in the category of light shielding.

The pilot must have somehow fired another drone, even though from the camera he could barely understand how was the man flying that bird, much less know where the hostiles were. Suddenly, the gunship leveled out, with the last Reaper straight ahead. It was the last one because Philips could now see the burning husk of the second Reaper having been hit by the second drone. Today, the gunship was loaded with fast firing plasma repeaters instead of the standard 10mm-miniguns since its main role on this mission, above all, was to take care of Reapers. The mounted plasma repeaters barked bolts at a rate of four hundred per minute each, which was far above any known plasma weapon developed by the Goa'uld or anyone else. The weapon's strength wasn't negligible either since four hits were enough to cripple the Reaper. The following few hits blew the thing out of the sky.

Somebody would think that with the newly attained fire rate of the plasma repeater, there was no need to use the grav-miniguns since they couldn't match in any way such a firepower. That was maybe true against the Reapers, as even with armor piercing rounds the plasma repeaters would still perform far better. Still, Philips had seen one of their tanks coming across a herd of Crabs. It must have been at least five thousand of them, all evenly spread out on a green, grassy plain, moving lazily as if they were a herd of buffalos that had just found a new and much greener pasture. At that moment, Philips had thought that the best course of action would be to call a flight of the new F-302d _Bumblebee_ bombers that would fly over and drop cluster bombs or napalm. The Bumblebees were the latest of the F-302s, and they had the Wraith beaming system that would materialize large ordinance below the craft when needed. Unfortunately, they still didn't have many of them and they were in high demand on Quiril, which meant, if possible, an alternate solution was preferable. Probably because of it, Philips had witnessed the commander of the tank solve the problem in a different way. The commander had switched its two grav-minigun to fire explosive ammunition. Then, it began spraying 6,000 bullets per minute from each gun. The firing solution the onboard targeting system had decided was to swivel the miniguns as fast as possible. From the camera placed outside, it looked as if the strong electric motors were making the miniguns vibrate so fast that they were becoming a blur of motion. As a result, the fired bullets were sprayed on a wider area instead of a steady and narrow stream.

At 12,000 bullets per minute, with each bullet having an explosive tip, the entire plain in front of the tank exploded with pieces of Crabs everywhere. Calling it a massacre could not depict what happened in the two minutes it took the miniguns to spray more than 20,000 explosive bullets. There were, of course, a few remaining Crabs, it was more of a spray-and-pray solution based on a lot of bullets fired and a quite large number of targets. Turning back to standard bullets, the tank spent the next ten minutes picking them up until nothing was left standing. The thousands of Crabs were turning the green pasture beneath them into a purple one with their blood, and everybody was happy about it.

After three days of fighting, roughly a third of the city was cleaned. There was also a bit of unexpected good news, as on many occasions the drones were able to detect life signs inside buildings. Human life signs to be more precise. He liked the idea that they were not only killing those that didn't belong on this planet but that they were finding more people that would otherwise die at the hands of the enemy or simply because of starvation. As he was sipping his first coffee of the day, Philips was switching the view from different cameras placed on a private's combat suit. In particular, he was watching one squad that was moving down a small alley. A drone has detected a human life sign in one of the buildings up ahead on the third floor and since he didn't follow what they had been doing from the very beginning, he didn't know why they were moving through the small alley instead of going inside the building through the main entrance located on the other street. It seemed such a waste of time, but thus far all of his people had done a very good job, thus he wasn't about to start judging before knowing all the details.

The display had the name Jennings written in its corner, the name of the private which camera he was using to view what was going on. The camera was showing that the private was behind the two leading Cylons controlled by his corporal. The private turned right, but there was nothing there as a barrier made of wooden planks blocked access to the adjacent alley. The private turned to look forward once again, with only the two Cylons ahead. It was then that he heard the breaking sound and the private awkwardly flying sideways to the left. There was also a clicking sound he had heard before. It was the sound the Crabs sometimes made. The next thing he heard was shots. He turned to look through another camera just in time to see one of the Cylons putting an explosive bullet in the Crab's head, which exploded, spilling gore on every soldier in a five-meter radius.

Regrettably, all soldiers in the squad had been in a five-meter radius. It was only a question of who received how much of the disgusting substance.

He then heard talk over private Jennings comm.

"What the fuck was that? Since when do Crabs move so fast?" Jennings cursed, but he was already back on his feet and the sensors in the suit were showing that he wasn't injured.

"You good, Jennings?" the corporal said. His camera was showing Jennings in front of him. He was inspecting the unfortunate private who had taken a full charge from a Crab when the private gave a thumbs-up as his response.

"This was fast for them. It moved much faster than what I ever saw those things move," another private added.

"I heard others reporting the Crabs behaving out of character a few times. Usually, they are slow and methodical, uncaring for their lives but also never stopping in front of anything. Like an unstoppable grinding machine," the Corporal said to his teammates. "This was different."

"I heard this is because they are going berserk. Hunger is making them," another private joined in.

The private was correct, more than he knew. The Crabs laid their eggs inside corpses, and the eggs would hatch and eat whatever corpse they were inside. It was the only way for them to grow so quickly. Although, in his opinion, even this was totally disgusting, what happened when there was no corpse to lay eggs inside when the time came was even more disturbing. The eggs would hatch and start eating the Crab that carried them. Even worse, somehow the Crabs were instinctively keeping the eggs inside their own body until they would find a corpse, or until eaten alive. That was the reason why the Crabs were going berserk. There was no more food for them to eat and to place their eggs into.

Which meant, they were being eaten alive by the freshly hatched monsters inside them.

"This discussion is over," the corporal barked. Then he pointed at a balcony on the third floor. It was the apartment where the drone has detected life signs. "Jennings and Barkley. Go up there and see if you can find some survivors."

Both answered with ' _yes, sir_ ' and then first Barkley teleported on the ledge, followed by quickly dropping down on the balcony, only to be mimicked by Jennings who did the same. It was smart. Instead of going through the building's main entrance and up three flight of stairs, they were taking advantage of the teleportation devices every infantry soldier now had. It was one advantage the infantry in their combat suits had over the much heavier power armored units. He again began looking through Jennings' camera as it was showing Barkley currently in the process of breaking through the balcony's glass doors. While slowly moving inside, a sound coming from one of the other rooms in the apartment was heard. Moving more slowly now and clearly on alert, they turned into a corridor on the left. It had three doors. They didn't make two steps towards the closest when a gunshot rang through the apartment. There was a hole now in the wall on the left, and smaller bullet holes on the right one as well, most certainly caused by a shotgun. Fortunately, whoever fired had missed for almost two meters.

"We are Terrans! We are from Earth and we are here to rescue you! Stop shooting and come out!" Barkley shouted over the suit's external speakers. The combat suit was hermetically sealed, hence soundproof.

There was no more shooting, which was a good sign. Then, someone peeked through the closest doors further down the corridor. He must have noticed them, instantly knowing that they were not Crabs, nor Hunters, and not Reapers either. In the man's book, it seemed that everybody else was welcomed, which he demonstrated by boldly coming out with a broad smile on his face.

Another happy story that would make Philips sleep a little easier tonight. Now that the man had been reached, he began looking at other monitors. One caught his attention as the swiveling cupola of one of their tanks zeroed in on a flying reaper. The massive bolt of plasma flew at supersonic speed, hitting and pulverizing the left side of the smallest Reaper, the only ones that ventured inside a planet's atmosphere. It was always nice to see such a city-wide cleanup where the number of casualties on the enemy's side was mounting quickly, while their side was only sustaining a few scrapes and bruises.

This opponent was simply not at their level.

His XO, Lieutenant Ramirez entered the command vehicle. "Sir, there's something you should see. A recording from a few hours ago taken by a squad from the other company."

Philips noticed Ramirez expression conveying that whatever he was about to show him it wouldn't be trivial. "Show away, XO."

The Lt. worked on the console and on the largest display in the mobile command station. The view from a camera of a soldier was displayed. The timer in the corner did inform him that it was something that had happened almost two hours ago. "As you can see, this is recording taken from Corporal Maverick. He and his team were detached from the rest of the squad in order to converge on a specific location from two separate directions."

"What was so important about that location, XO?" he asked.

"A drone noticed a life sign, but it was registered only for a fleeting moment. The interesting part and the reason why a squad was dispatched to that location with instructions to approach with caution, was because the drone determined a 90 percent likelihood that what it detected _wasn't_ a human."

"Wasn't a human? A Crab then, or a Hunter maybe."

"That was a possibility, but the problem was that the probe didn't give any percentage on what it was, only that it most probably wasn't human, hence flagged as not friendly," the XO explained.

It was true that drones had detailed data on both Crabs and Hunters, which meant even a short moment of detection should have been enough for a drone to give the likelihood of it being a Crab or otherwise a Hunter. If it didn't, it could mean that they were using some method of concealment they didn't know anything about. The fact that it quickly disappeared from sensors was another indication of the same fact. The camera was showing as the corporal, the other three teammates, and two Cylons at the front of the formation were moving down an alley with a few garbage containers blocking the otherwise clear view in front of them. He then heard the corporal say how they had reached the place where the drone had seen something. They were just entering what was looking like a modest courtyard, with many things in it, but mostly one type of garbage or another. However, what was missing was what they were looking for. The courtyard had three sides blocked by tall buildings with no fire escape. Only the way they came could have been used if it were a crab. On the other hand, a Hunter could have easily gone over the building and have disappeared that way. However, if it had done that, other drones or even a _Hummingbird_ should have been in a position to pick it up on their sensors and optics.

The other option, escaping through the only opening in the courtyard should have been impossible since the drone came that way. The team was spreading in the courtyard, clearer by the minute there was no one there except for them.

"There's nothing here," a private voiced what everyone was thinking.

"A sensor ghost then?" another added quickly.

"Nothing to see here. Let's get back to our designated route," the corporal said.

The corporal was moving to exit the courtyard. It was then when the camera showed clear as day the private standing in front of him being hit from the alley by a blast. His teammates rushed towards him. A private was pulling him to cover while another was crouching behind a wall hastily trying to pinpoint from where the blast had come from.

"He's hit!" another private said.

"I know I'm hit, the suit's still hot as hell!" the one who'd been shot said.

The corporal was now in front of the soldier, looking at the hole in his chest plate. It almost went through all the layers of the armor. It appeared that it stopped at the last one, a carbon composite laminate just above the internal, soft fabric completely useless in stopping plasma blasts.

Philips saw on the main screen that the corporal was sending instructions to the Cylons to move in the alley and if fired upon to immediately return fire. What Philips didn't understand in those instructions was that the corporal had mentally instructed the Cylons to calculate from where the shot came even if their sensors didn't detect anyone, and to spray the general area with as many bullets as their guns would allow.

As they stepped into the alley, one of the two Cylons received a green energy blast straight in the chest, staggering backward from the strong impact. Another impact hit the Cylon again and this time the heavy machine went down. However, the other Cylon opened with its gun in the general direction from where the blasts had come from. It lasted maybe five or six seconds, no more, and after the Cylon stopped firing, no return fire was coming back anymore.

The corporal moved, noticing the Cylon on the ground was ready for a nice day spent offline and in the repair shop. He turned around to look into the alley. There was nothing there. Nothing that he could see anyway.

"Since when did this bunch start using ranged weapons?" he asked the XO. In this whole theater, only the enemy's aerial units, the Reapers, had plasma weapons. The Crabs and Hunters didn't use any.

"A good question, sir, but there's more from the recording of the Cylon that fired back," the XO stated, changing the view for the corporal, into the recording from before the Cylon fired in the alley.

Philips watched as the first and the second blast came, apparently, from thin air before it fired from its minigun in the general direction from where the shooter must be firing. Again, it lasted five seconds and then it stopped. No more weapon exchange to be seen. "I don't get it. Wasn't there something more you wanted to show me?"

"I did, sir. Please watch again but this time with the sound of the minigun removed," the XO explained.

Philips watched. This time there was no sound of the Cylon minigun. Suddenly he heard it. It was not a human sound, that was for certain, but he also knew that it was the sound of someone being hurt. It was a short-lived scream of pain. "So, we are dealing with someone or something invisible that we managed to hurt."

"Yes, sir. After the audio has been enhanced and we learned that the Cylons had managed to harm whoever fired back, another squad was sent to inspect the place again. They found what we believe to be blood, sir. Green blood."

The enemy was using cloaking technology and it was using ranged weapons. It was difficult to know which of these two bits of info more off-putting - probably the cloak, in his humble opinion at least - but the biggest revelation wasn't that. The fact that the XO mentioned green blood meant that they were, unfortunately, dealing with yet another alien race, as not the Vargas, not the Crabs, and not the Hunters either had green blood flowing through their veins.

* * *

… _Back from memory lane_

The operation that had cleaned an entire nearby city had resulted in the extermination of many Crabs, Hunters, and Reapers. There were casualties in the ranks of the Terran Army, but they were few and with having suffered only one fatality throughout the duration of the entire operation. The brunt of the hostiles' attacks had been taken in stride by the cheap version of Cylons that were always at the forefront, and those could easily be repaired if damaged. Reapers and Hunters were those that from time to time would be able to score a hit. The Reapers were lurking between buildings, while the Hunters would attack while hidden inside them. The Crabs had done exactly nothing, except dying in the thousands.

Philips was beginning to understand what was going on. He had to ask himself a few times what was this all about. The enemy they were facing was incredibly weak. However, he then understood the reality of the situation. It wasn't that they were weak, but that the Terrans were incredibly strong, in both technologies utilized and tactics.

Not the Crabs, not the Hunters, and not the Reapers were created to face a foe such as the Terrans. They were more like cleaners who were here in the Milky Way galaxy to hunt down unarmed or lightly armed opponents at best, just as the people on Quiril were after their world had been demolished by orbital bombardment. Then it dawned on him. This campaign was going easy because their enemy was missing one important component. The Vargas. They had been decimated on the battle that took place above Earth and suddenly the invasion force was missing the strongest piece in their arsenal. Now, if they could only find a way to deal with the constantly increasing number of those cheap Reapers that in small numbers provided no resistance at all against the Terran might, but in large enough numbers could still become troublesome, the cleaning of the galaxy could be left to other races easily enough. The Terrans could then begin preparation for any kind of offensive actions they deem appropriate.

Philips snapped back into the here and now. It happened now and then to him to time-travel through his own memories, ever since he had gone through _Genesis_. Since he was young and full of stamina, the process didn't give him the pleasure of experiencing a ' _Second Youth'_ as some people were referring to the aftereffect of a sudden return of vitality they didn't even know they had lost as they had aged. He felt more or less the same as he did before. He did start noticing increased strength since he began training more, but nothing spectacular as some people were reporting. On the other hand, his ability to remember things skyrocketed. He knew that before _Genesis,_ he would remember past events well enough but they were always missing many details. He knew that when describing people he met for the first time only moments earlier he would forget things about them, even by forgetting what color their eyes were. Much less some other even less significant details about them. However, now he could retrieve an almost photo-realistic image of a person he'd met or a place he'd visited. It was why he would sometimes almost lose himself inside his own memories of days past as if rewatching a movie in his own head.

That wasn't important right now because the good Doctor was staring at him again with an expression of amusement on her face. After all, she'd asked him a question and instead of responding he spaced out again. "Sorry, Doc. You wanted to know when you'll be able to go around the planet and do your part freely. Well, the answer is, not anytime soon."

Keller's face was conveying her dissatisfaction in regard to his answer clearly enough. "Why? I thought the cleaning was going well."

"Doc, let me ask you something. Did you or someone on your team get a rush order to analyze something?"

"You mean the green blood?" Keller responded.

"The green blood," he repeated while taking a deep breath.

"You're saying that the blood is the reason for the delay?"

"I do, Doc. It is a new species we didn't even know we have to deal with."

The Doctor smiled. "But you're so strong. I'm sure you can deal with this new nuisance easy enough. Am I wrong?"

She was good at flattery and in normal circumstances, he would confirm their readiness to deal with any and all threats. However, this situation was different. "The problem, Doc, is that these new aliens are using ranged weapons and a cloaking device, which means that we have no way of knowing how many there are on the planet. We could spend the next six months chasing ghosts."

"Why haven't we seen these aliens before?" Keller asked. "No pun intended."

"Not sure myself on that one. There are theories, though. One is that these aliens serve the Vargas in a different role. The Crabs are the lowest level that serves to clear a large number of weak opponents. They don't need any resupplying since they eat what they hunt and do not use any kind of weapons that would need some kind of ammo. The hunters serve to hunt those quick and smart enough to slip away from the horde of Crabs. They too don't need resupplying since their weapon of choice is a very sharp knife. The Reapers are there to hit an opponent that has some technology left to aid them. The Reapers will home in on the energy signature and turn defenders into defenseless opponents for the Crabs and Hunter to eventually finish off. With ships in orbit capable of performing bombardment of fortified locations, the Vargas have everything needed to clear entire planets. This new cloaked enemy that uses ranged weapons is then superfluous for achieving their goal. There's a theory that they serve for scouting, intelligence gathering and sabotage operations, though. Their cloak would give them such an ability easy enough. It is possible that there's only a few of them on the planet. Those that were dropped to perform any of these tasks. Why they haven't left, though, is a complete mystery to me."

"I'm sorry, Captain, but postponing the work of the Peace Corps doesn't make any sense. There will always be fear that such aliens are on the planet. That's the problem when you're fighting an invisible opponent," Keller said, frustrated.

"I agree, Doc, and I'm not the only one. What the people in charge are thinking is that they should see if we can catch at least one of them and see if we can find out what kind of cloaking technology they are using and what's the best way to detect them. They are also deploying a satellite grid that will cast a dense curtain of lepton particles all around the planet, the same as is the case with Earth and our other colonies. That should be enough to defeat any cloaking technology these aliens are using to come near the planet or leave it. I assure you, if we catch one of them and learn how their tech works, you'll be allowed to continue with your work."

"Well, it's better than what my fears were. Waiting for months with nothing to do. Any timeline you could give me?"

"I wouldn't make any major plans for the next month or so," he explained.

The Doc looked deflated. "Maybe I should go back to Earth with the next ship available then and spend Christmas with Rodney."

"Doc, forgive me for saying this but that should be a joyous thought and not something to feel down about."

"You're right, and I am, but I was also looking forward to starting to rebuild at least one hospital in one of the cities you've freed. This temporary settlement is starting to be inadequate as more people come in and the makeshift hospital we built here has its limits too on how many patients it can take care of," Keller explained. "But you're right. Who knows when I'll be able to go back on Earth once we start working on the hospitals in the freed cities? I may as well take the opportunity and go now. The thing that bothers me, though, is that we have so many worlds that need our help and not enough people to do it," Keller said.

"Not enough people?" Philips asked puzzled. "Doc, isn't it true that the Peace Corps employs more than five million people in one capacity or another?"

"Yeah, so?" Keller asked.

"Well, Doc, there are more of you than people in the entire Terran Army, which under normal circumstances maybe wouldn't mean much, but since we are at war, it seems to me weird that your organization isn't smaller than mine," Philips reported.

"Maybe, but it is in times of war when the number of people active in the Peace Corps rises, the same as for the military," Keller explained her view on things. "Besides, isn't the Terran Army a smaller branch now, as opposed to how it was before space travel?"

"True, Doc, the Terran Army has so much less recruitment than the Terran Space Navy. If we take all the people in the Terran Space Marine Corps (TSMC) and the Terran Space Navy (TSN), the total number is around 17 million people against 4 million in the Terran Army (TA). They actually have more people than they have assets for those people to use."

It was to be expected. After the attack that had cost millions of lives on Earth, many people wanted to join the TSN and TSMC in order to contribute to the fight. There was also a difference between the old Earth navies and the TSN. People in the military were the ones building the needed equipment and infrastructure, ranging from space stations, shipyards and the ships in those shipyards, as opposed to having contractors doing the construction jobs. Those people were referred to as Support Non-commissioned Officers who, except for a crash course in the ways of the military of only three months, a few hours a day, were not to participate directly in any military operation. They were the backbone of the TSN and were responsible for the entire building process of everything the Navy had. It did not matter if it was a torpedo casing or a Dreadnought class warship. SNCOs were responsible for whatever it was to be built. Even with all the warships, construction ships, support ships, space stations, planetary outposts, shipyards, and planetary factories, there was still more people wanting to join the TSN or TSMC than there were actual jobs waiting for them. The ratio of SNCOs to NCOs to COs was 6:5:1, where most NCOs were soldiers in the TSMC, as the marines were mostly infantry.

He knew the plans were for the TSN, TSMC, and TA to have between 0.5 to 1% of the Terran population, which meant between 40 and 80 million people. The buildup was big, but contrary to popular belief, it was happening rather quickly. The Terran infrastructure was almost completely built, with the last largest batch of the newly built installations, stations, shipyards, and whatnot coming fully online in the next few months. Ships were also being built in droves as if they were mere cars, all of them only waiting for the last few technologies to be incorporated before they could leave their berths. As the final goal set by the TSN, the Terran fleet - comprised of everything from support ships to the largest dreadnoughts - would eventually number in around ten thousand ships. And they had done it smartly too since the first part had been to build as many of the Defiant class ships that were perfect to give young captains and other officers the needed experience. They would then be transferred to larger ships as they came out of the shipyards. Combined with the virtual reality technology the Terrans possessed, officers in the Navy were quickly becoming experienced and ready for when the offensive finally began.

"Well, Doc, I know you like helping others, but sometimes, enjoying life and being a little selfish isn't as bad as you make it sound to be. You can go and spend Christmas with your husband and still have a clear conscience," Philips explained, suddenly remembering that he had other obligations as well. "Well, Doc. I have to go back and see what those no good in my company are doing. See ya, Doc."

"Good day, Captain Philips."

* * *

 ** _Thanks for reading! Leave a review if you feel like it. They're always welcomed_**.


	12. Spies

**Important notice:** The previous chapter was posted a few weeks ago but it came without the story alert being sent. Be sure to check if you read it.

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From the small bathroom, Peter stepped into the large cargo room, the one on the back of their ship that doubled as living quarters. He was aboard the ship David and he had in the past two years come to call their home. The work for the TIA was as demanding as ever and spending so much time on a Corvette-class ship, for days on end, was starting to feel mildly constricting, if not outright claustrophobic. Five years ago, the TSN began development of a new class of interstellar ships needed to take the role of ships like a Tel'tak or an Al'kesh – a type of ships the Terrans did not have - yet needed to be superior to both Goa'uld vessels in any conceivable way. The idea was for these ships to allow a crew of as few as two people to be completely autonomous while performing long-term missions around the galaxy, even for months or years if necessary. The new Corvette-class also needed to be very good at engaging against other non-capital ships, so that, if needed, it could provide support to the space fighters the Terrans, at the time, barely had on the drawing board. They needed a multirole ship that could take on non-capital ships but also double as a small transport vessel for up to two dozen people while still capable of crossing vast interstellar distances.

With the technology currently at their disposal, Peter knew, they could easily develop something that would fit that particular bill. However, at the time, the project wasn't a priority and later, when the Vargas finally appeared, there was no use for a ship like a Corvette anymore. Superiority space fighters could at least be loaded with anti-capital ship missiles that if in enough quantity could do some serious damage, which gave them precedence. The Corvette couldn't be used in the same way in such numbers. Even though the TSN put a stop to any further development of the Corvette class of ships for the time being, the TIA saw a possible use for it in the intelligence community. However, the design needed to change slightly in order for the ship to fulfill one additional role.

Covert operations.

The ship Peter was currently onboard was 27 meters long and was comprised of two main compartments for them to use similarly to a Tel'tak. The smaller compartment of the two, the cockpit in which David - his companion in crime - was currently seated in the pilot's seat, had an additional seat for a tactical officer. Originally, the ship had an additional seat for its captain. However, the TIA had decided that, given the type of missions the craft was to undertake, such a position was superfluous. He had to agree on that one. Two people could easily control the entire ship from the two available consoles and the TIA did not have a reason to have captains on missions.

Behind the cockpit, a large double door led to the second room, the much larger cargo room that doubled as their living quarters, with two bunk beds on one side and a small isolated bathroom on the other. It wasn't very comfortable, and often he preferred sleeping in one of the two reclinable chairs in the cockpit that, with their anti-shock cushions, were far superior to the beds if one wanted to take a good nap. In the middle of the larger room was a set of rings as the only way for cargo to be loaded or unloaded onto the ship, just like on a Tel'tak. Having the Asgard beaming installed would be even better, but it would also be a dead giveaway for anyone who saw them using the transportation system of who they really were.

No matter how it looked inside, the ship was an attack vessel through and through, as if the Terrans were simply incapable of making something that didn't give a predatory look and feel. It was a streamlined design, almost as if a miniature Defiant class ship met a Delta flyer from the star trek universe and this was their illegitimate child. Not quite resembling any of the parents because the TIA eventually decided to add some additional cargo space smack in the middle of the vessel in order to fulfill another important role. And all of that was put into twenty-seven meters in length, thirteen in width and five and a half in height at the highest point. Furthermore, the TIA also needed a vessel that could pass unnoticed, which meant some additional changes from the planned design were desperately needed.

The ship simply looked _way_ too Terran for anyone's liking.

First, the shiny, new armor plating made of one of the toughest alloys the Terrans know how to make had to be hidden behind a thick coating of the ugliest gray color he had ever seen. The coating was then treated further to make the ship look much older and battered, making anyone who saw it think the craft was built nowhere near the last fifteen years, the time period the Terrans had been active in the galaxy. They even went as far as to put a few scorch marks from plasma weapons on the hull. However, that was far from what the TIA needed to achieve with the ship before sending it and its new crew on their merry way. The biggest task was for the heavy dual plasma repeaters turret that had been placed on top of the craft to be able to fold and disappear inside the craft, the same as with the retractable panels installed in order to hide the two frontal, main pulse cannons. Those were two very powerful weapons the TIA had taken from the first Defiant class ship, the one Liam had designed a decade ago. That particular ship class was being retired and the TIA was welcomed to take any component they'd deem useful for their little pet project. The TIA did not have the same budget or production facilities as the TSN did, and waiting for Jack to give Klaus what he wanted was a nightmare the man wanted to evade at all cost.

The two pulse cannons were meant for a much bigger ship than the compact Corvette, but the TIA somehow succeeded in placing two of them onboard. There was a slight overheating problem during sustained fire, but the sheer firepower of the two cannons more than compensated for the undesirable side effect. The TIA didn't mind taking the shield generator from the old Defiant class either, which was an Alterran Type II shield intended for a ship seven times as massive. Some ingenuity had been needed here as well since the generator was slightly bigger than what the Corvette could easily house in the diminutive engine room, but since beggars can't be choosers, the TIA had no choice but to make do with what they could scrap from various sources. As a result, the entire engine section, located behind a bulkhead at the end of the ship, had to be reworked. The larger shield generator simply took too much space, which meant the originally planned reactor was suddenly too big to fit inside. Again, the TIA had to compromise by placing a type IV Naquadah/Naquadria reactor used in their _Hammerhead_ dropships instead of the originally planned one. It was a slightly smaller design and hence able to fit perfectly. To compensate for the regrettable loss of power output - and more importantly to still be able to take full advantage of the chosen powerful shield and pulse cannons installed on the ship - a small but powerful Mark II antimatter booster was added that, in the end, gave an even better max power output than it had originally been intended for the ship to have.

Everybody in the TIA's engineering section was happy with how the Corvette was coming along. However, they should have known why the Navy hadn't tried such a solution from the get go. After all, they have prototyping labs with even better equipment and sim-software than what the TIA does. The objectionable outcome resulting from their changes in power production was, unfortunately, the ship now being unable to enter the Theta hyperspace band without the use of the antimatter booster, which could only be used for short periods of no more than half an hour. In clear contrast with what traveling through hyperspace often demanded of its power source. The ship had suddenly lost one clear advantage every other Terran ship had on others in the entire Milky Way galaxy - its speed. It was also the reason why David and he had spent days traveling between two star systems that were only a thousand light years apart. The ship was now as fast as a modern Jaffa Ha'tak type IV, maybe even a little slower since it could not achieve the same speed without sustaining damage caused by impacts with exotic particles because, unlike a Ha'tak, it could not keep its shield powered for prolonged periods. Not without the antimatter booster being active anyway.

Still, for long-term covert operations, the final design was what the TIA needed and David and he were the fortunate duo assigned to test the first Corvette the TIA had built. By now, there had to be many a time the number of Corvettes the TIA had deployed throughout the galaxy. The Navy was also renewing their interest in the Corvette-class of ships because it would be a good addition against the Reapers and because of an interest to give it to SG teams to go on missions of exploration now that the gate network was down. They even informed them that most of the changes the TIA had introduced would remain, including its energy weapons, shield generator, and power generation system, with only minor changes and improvements whenever easily applicable. The only real change the TSN wanted was to replace the short-range micro-missiles the TIA used with Ancient drones, which wasn't a strange request at all. The TIA would have wanted to use drones too, but no one outside the Navy could have them. It was a rule coming directly from the High Council since the drones were among the few weapons that, if fired in enough numbers and backed by the right power source, could burrow through even their toughest shields, the same way they had been able to do against the Ori and Vargas shields. Because of it, the drones needed to be kept under strict supervision and were off-limits except for use aboard Navy ships. Ships that have specific protocols installed that would destroy everything onboard rather than for any of it to fall into enemy hands.

Not that Peter thought there was something wrong with the missiles they currently had at their disposal. They were the smallest the Terrans were able to produce, even smaller than the drones were. They had a relatively short range, but they were incredibly fast seekers, making them incredibly difficult to evade. The missiles also had a shield discriminator onboard that, at least in theory, could allow them to pass through monophasic shields if they guessed the modulation of the shield correctly. Of course, there was no chance of the missile penetrating a shield like that of a modern Ha'tak, which were multiphasic in nature ever since Anubis upgraded them before paying a visit to Tollana. And even if the missile hit the hull, they did not have the needed destructive power to seriously harm a capital ship like a Ha'tak. However, for smaller ships like an Al'kesh or a Tel'tak that were still using the older monophasic shields the Goa'uld had been using for thousands of years, and especially if the pilot forgot to put the shield to continuously rotate its modulation, the sensors could detect the right modulation and the missiles would then use that information to score a nasty hit. However, all this wasn't crucial since the missiles were mostly meant to deal with a craft like a glider, their primary choice for targeting. Because of their small size and because of how fast they were, the Corvette could quickly empty its impressive hold of 64 missiles. The Corvette could easily blast entire squadrons of death gliders in a very short timespan, even without the use of the other energy weapons at its disposal. The pulse cannons could take out an Al'kesh in short order and the turret on top could turn for the entire 360 degrees giving the ship complete coverage as well as provide support while it was landed. In case the crew needed support fire while outside of the ship.

Peter liked the new assignment and he thought David liked it too. Even more than their previous mission as infiltrators in the Twelve Colonies of Kobol under the aliases Joshua and Malcolm, their previous cover identities. This new gig was allowing them to travel the galaxy and see very interesting and colorful people, most of which they would really like to shoot on sight, however, not possible because of their intelligence-gathering mission.

Dead people usually don't share information.

Peter walked to stand next to David who was currently listening to some music through his headphones. David was a lucky guy. He could spend endless hours listening to music without saying a word, which was great for missions where you had to spend endless hours or even days on end traveling with nothing to do other than wait for the moment when you'd reach your destination.

Even though the man was listening to music, he somehow sensed his approach from behind and took the headphones off.

"Are we close?" Peter asked.

"Look for yourself," David said, motioning for him to look through the large frontal window.

He did and saw that a blue and green planet was clearly visible in front of them. Glancing at the sensors' readout displayed on the tactical station, he also noticed that they were already decelerating but because of the ship's inertial dampeners, he couldn't feel it. David must have cranked them up while he was asleep so that he wouldn't feel a thing. Usually, they both liked leaving at least some sensation when maneuvering or under constant acceleration or else it felt strange somehow. "Finally!"

"I agree," David responded, with a trace of annoyance clearly present in his voice. "This has been the longest leg thus far. Five days in hyperspace and another day crawling from the hyper limit toward the planet."

"Well, at least the pay is good," Peter said, noticing the small, short-lived smile that formed on David's face. If anything, nobody could fault David for showing emotions excessively. However, after having lived with the guy for the past two years, he was now able to detect the smallest of changes in his facial expressions. The part about the pay being good was an internal joke since indeed as brokers they were paid extremely well. Unfortunately, that meant very little to the two Terrans who whatever amount of weapons-grade Naquadah were to receive as compensation for a job well done was all going in the TIA's coffers.

"That it is," David replied. "Health benefits are even better."

Now it was time for Peter to smile. Their job was to broker deals between two parties and the receipt of payment for whatever services or products the other side had provided. They would receive a substantial piece of the payment too, as much as ten percent even, which was quite nice in his opinion. However, the reason why they were in such a huge demand even with such a price tag attached to their services was because they were guaranteeing the payment would reach the intended recipient. It was not often that brokers included such an unsavory condition into their contract and everybody knew that if the job was a big one, brokers, in general, did not have the kind of money to cover such a loss. Furthermore, being targeted by pirates wasn't uncommon, at which point it was difficult to know which was better, being shot by the pirates or being shot by the contractor when you couldn't pay back what you lost.

There was always a chance of being tortured by the contractor for days on end before finally deciding to end your life.

Hence the joke about the health benefits. Of course, since the TIA was backing them, they were actually the only brokers in the neighborhood who didn't lie when they said that they could cover for any valuables lost while in their charge. It was still better for that to never happened, as it could raise some eyebrows on how exactly were two simple brokers able to pay back such a pricey loss.

Not only people were starting to flock wanting to hire them for whatever illegal deals they were doing, but they were also opening a completely new avenue in which they were often being hired as transporters of small but valuable goods. Goods usually hermetically sealed inside a container that needed to stay unopened. Since they were guaranteeing delivery, everybody wanted their services, which was great. As brokers and transporters, they were acquiring a treasure trove of information about the galaxy's black market, slowly but surely allowing the TIA to build a well-informed picture of what was going on and who the biggest players were.

The only thing they didn't do was the delivery of illegal goods where large transport ships were needed. As transporters, they were fine with delivering small packages that could be fitted inside their small ship. Once onboard, they could scan them before delivering to the intended recipient. It was, of course, to make sure it wasn't a bomb what they were transporting, but also to get a clear picture of what people were dealing the most.

"There are three Al'kesh and eight death gliders in orbit," he said while looking through the frontal window, slightly confused. "Something out of the ordinary must be going on."

"The sensors are detecting debris. From the size and composition I would guess the debris are what's left of an Al'kesh," David replied.

"Lars doesn't have more than three Al'kesh, and there are three still intact in front of us. I'd say the one destroyed wasn't his," Peter said.

The galaxy was changing, and the number of available Goa'uld vessels was slowly diminishing. The snakes had built so many Tel'tak and Al'kesh that the galaxy was littered with them. However, with the slow decline in the number of functioning installations capable of servicing or building those ships, more and more were slowly being retired, were unable to fly without first getting some often unattainable spare part, or were outright blown apart in skirmishes. The only legit supplier of spare parts was the FJN and the Terrans were trying hard to force them to stop dealing spaceships to whoever was prepared to pay enough. Some among the Jaffa were beginning to understand the need to limit such sales, but most were not like-minded. To this day, the FJN was producing and selling Al'kesh, Tel'tak, death gliders, and even a rare type of troop transports, without asking questions on who was buying them or for what purpose they were going to use them. With the interdiction device preventing the use of stargates and with the Jaffa stopping their sale of spaceships, the galaxy could become a very peaceful place in a matter of a few years. One in which the number of shady organizations would drop significantly, be limited to single planets, and where only legit nations had the ability to travel the stars.

"I agree," David said before looking down at his console, currently flashing something. "I am receiving a challenge."

"Well, since it seems they are on edge for some reason, I would suggest you answer them ASAP."

David opened a channel. "What do you want?"

Peter rolled his eyes. David was playing the character of the dude with a very short fuse. One that doesn't suffer any nonsense from anyone and in no circumstance. The thing was that people were buying it and most times would leave David alone, deciding to talk to him instead.

" _From the answer, I must be talking to you, Mr. Barns,"_ the voice on the comm. came.

"How insightful of you. Do you want a cookie for it?" David spoke harshly. "Let me ask again. What do you want?"

Peter thought that one day some of these scums would simply decide to shoot them down because of the way David talked to them. Still, the man on the other side must know that they were bringing payment for the last cargo, which meant blowing them would also mean being shot by the boss later that day, if lucky.

Lars also played the dude with a short fuse.

" _Send the codes, or be shot down."_

David inputted something in his console. "Happy now?"

"Almost," the reply came. "Why do you have your shield raised at full power?"

Peter smiled. If they only knew. Having their skin-tight, multiphasic Alterran shield at full power would have been a dead giveaway that they were somebody else. Somebody other than some mere outlaws. Because of it, he had reconfigured the shield as monophasic, made it surround the ship like a bubble, and it currently worked at only twenty percent of its max output. In truth, the entire ship was always at only ten percent of its max power output or less since they needed to pass as an old and rusty cargo ship as the badly done paint job indicated. It was why all weapon ports were retracted and closed and why a dampening field was powered to fool any sensors trying to pry inside the ship where they shouldn't.

"We have the shield raised because of the idiot we had to deal with the last time we were here," David replied.

Last time some drunk idiot was reading the authentication codes from the wrong sheet and not only was refusing to let them pass, but he had also fired a warning shot across their bow. At least he thought it had been a warning shot. On the other hand, it could have been the bad aiming because of the man's drunkenness. Still, if caught off guard and without a shield, the shot could have done some serious damage even to a sturdy ship like their Corvette. Thankfully, somebody else aboard the affronting Al'kesh came and saw what the idiot was using to check the sent code. A several weeks old obsolete set of codes.

"Yes, I remember that. You complained to Lars about it," the man replied tartly.

David gave Peter a puzzled looked. They both sensed the hostility in the man's voice. "Yes, we did. What of it?"

"Lars shot him because of it," the man replied. "He was my cousin."

' _Huh? Who would have predicted such a bad luck?'_ he thought. He was also slipping in the other seat in front of the tactical console. He was already punching instructions in the console that, in case an energy buildup in any of the ships in the system was detected, the ship would automatically go to full power, reconfigure the Alterran shield to its default settings and would show its teeth. At that point, no ship in the system except for theirs would like any of the events that would follow in quick succession. However, that would also mean that their mission was a total bust and that their cover, the one they had groomed for the past two years, was blown to smithereens.

And that was as bad of an outcome as it gets.

"I see," it was all that David could reply with at the moment. They were now waiting for the man to reply back, which at this point could come in many forms, not all of them verbal.

"Well, it is true he was an idiot. He should have stayed on the planet and continued tending the fields," the reply came over the comm. "You can proceed to the planet. I believe you know where to land."

It was apparent that the cousin was far from grief-stricken for the untimely demise of a family member, which was a very good thing for them since it meant they could continue with their mission, with their cover fully intact.

"Yes, we have the landing coordinates. Inform Lars that we are going to unload the cargo with the rings before landing," David responded.

"Will do," the answer came over the comm. before it closed. Apparently, they were done talking.

Under David's piloting, the nimble Corvette sped forth before joyfully flipping upside down. The landing coordinates were now rightly upward, which was the reason for the flipping in the first place. The ship continued closing in with the atmosphere the right way with the ship's underside being the one ready to do the breaking with the air. The descent was slow and uneventful. It gave them time to marvel at a planet that had almost nothing human-made present on it. Only endless forests, jungles, deserts, and oceans all untouched by human ingenuity and desires. Beside the small settlement of no more than ten thousand people located near the gate, the entire planet was devoid of any sentient life.

It was perfect as a base of operation.

The Corvette slowed down when the target building slowly come into visual range. It was located on the south side of the small settlement. There Lars and his thugs were doing business most days of the week when they were not somewhere off-world. The ship slowed down to a halt only twenty meters from the building while hovering five meters above the ground. It was his queue to activate the rings. He pushed a few buttons on his console and the cargo that awaited ready inside the ring platform was teleported below the ship. "The cargo is gone."

David pivoted the ship into landing only meters away from the cargo. Like a Tel'tak, the ship did not use extruding legs. Finally landed, the ship slowly powered down and David locked the controls so that it would need identification before powering the ship back up was possible once again. They both moved to the rear of the ship. He approached a wall at the far end and by swiftly drawing the Alterran symbol for 'Reveal' on it with his index finger, the wall disappeared. Behind it, the previously concealed small room was filled with various goodies the two agents couldn't do without, yet would be a dead giveaway if anyone came onboard and saw them lying around. There were two Mark III combat armors, a rack full of various weapons, various tools for any need and occasion, and there was even a small medical bed capable of healing injuries, scan the entire body and probably do many other things automatically and without the presence of a doctor that Peter knew nothing about. However, at this point, the only things he needed to take out were the two guns, belts, and the armbands they were to carry with them. As outlaws, they needed to play the part right, which meant they were now looking like some space cowboys, wearing leather pants and long coats instead of something more earthlike. Their guns were also something that wouldn't point anyone who saw them immediately toward Earth as the place of origin. They were not zat-guns either as both of them were in full accord that the weapon needed too much time to be opened and activated before it could be – _awkwardly_ \- fired, which could mean a few seconds lost, denoting the difference between life and death. Because of it, Peter had taken the design of Ronon's gun they had in their database – gift from the Travelers - and made replicas after having done some minor modifications first. Beside the stun and kill settings, he had added the overkill setting to be used against heavily armored opponents or if they needed to blow some door or wall. The gun now also had a biosensor that checked if the user was on the list of people allowed to fire the gun. If fired by someone who wasn't on the list, the same stun energy would shock the person who attempted the firing. The pistol also had a laser for increased accuracy and the cartridge contained twenty percent more energy. For the rest, the pistol was the same as what Ronon used during his adventures.

He gave the gun to David and saw the smile on his face. He had learned that David liked to collect different guns, but only those he had personally used on at least one mission. After he had given the freshly designed gun to David almost two years ago, he knew from his reaction that he had given him _'the gift'_. After that day, and in David's eyes, Peter could do no wrong anymore.

As they both put the belts and guns around their waist, the next and last items he took from inside the hidden compartment were the only two armbands present. To people who saw them wearing them, the story was that they were simple terminals that served to store important data or for their main purpose to connect to their ship remotely. It wasn't a lie since the armbands were more than capable of doing those things. However, they also contained a cloaking device, a relatively weak but still useful shield that still had problems when leaning against fixed objects like walls, the Tollan phasing device that allowed them to pass through solid matter, and a teleportation device capable of teleporting them anywhere in a hundred meters radius as long as there were no obstacles anywhere in-between. There was also the very advanced sensors in the armbands that would send information to the contact lenses Peter was just in the process of putting in his eyes. Not only would he receive sensor data about its surroundings, but the contact lenses could also use night and thermal vision. Although he had not needed night vision thus far, the thermal vision in conjunction with other sensors in the armbands was very good at monitoring the emotional state of people around him. If they were calm or if their heart war racing. With practice, he learned to guess correctly when someone was lying while answering questions.

In the last two years, while working as brokers, David and he hadn't used their guns or any of the more advanced features of their armbands in an offensive manner even once, except maybe to demonstrate the gun's firepower when Lars or others asked them to do so. They were both very proud of that accomplishment, as all true intelligence agents most certainly would. They may be wearing space cowboys' outfits, but they were far from ones.

They took everything needed from the compartment, which prompted Peter to push a small, concealed button just barely inside the compartment, located in the right top corner. The moment he removed the hand, the holographic wall sprang back up and solidified, once again fully concealing the compartment full of implicating content. "Let's get this done and see what our next job's gonna be."

David said nothing. He simply led the way back into the cockpit and straight to the doors on the left. They passed through the first door and into the small airtight compartment. The door behind them closed before the one in front of them opened. They stepped outside, immediately noticing four thugs already in the process of taking the large trunk with the extremely heavy weapons-grade Naquadah into Lars' large, wooden house. Lars was standing only a few meters away, smiling benevolently while waiting for the two of them to come closer. David turned for a moment and pushed a few buttons on his wristband device. Consequently, the ship's doors closed and a forcefield sprang to life, forming tightly around the ship. They both walked in front of Lars.

"Mr. Barns, Mr. Homer, glad you made it. Are you by any chance afraid somebody is going to steal your ship?" Lars asked, most than anything looking amused by it.

"I don't know. The last time we were here, a few of your men were looking at our vessel with expecting eyes. I didn't see any drooling coming out of their mouths, but I suspect that's only because we went inside your lovely establishment before that could occur," Peter, or rather Mr. Homer, explained.

"If it makes you feel any better, Mr. Homer, feel free to safeguard you vessel with as many precautions as it pleases you. However, I would like to know how you came into possession of such a nice vessel. Not only have I not had the pleasure of seeing such a craft before you came to me six months ago, but since it seems somewhat bigger than a Tel'tak, I would also say that it could take more cargo, which is not something I would mind having. Mind you, I'm not talking about just one ship here."

"The previous owner didn't say where he got it. Not that he had a lot of time to tell us in the short time it took us to steal it from him," Homer explained.

"Now I understand why you're so worried about somebody stealing it. Thieves are the most paranoid people when it comes to protecting their belongings. Is there a chance, umm, the previous owner could recall where more such vessels could be acquired. I would be willing to pay handsomely, even for a ship in a used state such as yours. I really don't mind the burn marks," Lars said eagerly.

Peter suddenly thought about an opportunity. Maybe the TIA could start producing the ship in bulk and sell it to shady people like Lars. Of course, the wholesale version would be a cheap crap ship only useful to ship cargo between nearby planets. However, the ship would have a concealed transponder that would get back to the TIA the ship's location and other data they deemed useful. In addition, when more ships of the same type started showing around it would make their covert job much easier because they wouldn't need to explain from where the distinctive ship was coming. However, this was something he would have to discuss with his people first. "Unfortunately, the previous owner is not a very talkative person. That is, not after he tried to stop us from taking the ship, if you know what I mean," Homer answered. It was best to cut the conversation by implying that the guy was dead.

"Yes, I think I know exactly what you mean. That is truly unfortunate."

"However, if we are talking about a possibly lucrative business of acquiring many ships, next time we are in the same region where we acquired this one, we could ask around and see if someone knows who is producing them and at what price. Unfortunately, the place where we acquired this vessel is almost ten thousand light years from here, and at the moment we have no intention of making a several-month journey, especially since there are a number of people in that region who do not like us very much."

"It does not matter. For the moment, I have all the ships I need, but I would ask you to look for additional ships that could supplement my fleet. I do plan on expanding my organization," Lars replied with a smile.

"Of course, Mr. Lars. Anything that makes my cargo hold filled with more weapons-grade Naquadah I'm inclined to pursue," Homer replied. He knew that beside the Al'kesh and gliders in orbit, Mr. Lars had several Tel'tak and even two Goa'uld troop transports he used to move his _merchandise_. Where did he get two troop transports in a starving market, he did not know. He must have very good connections.

"Let's get inside so that we can discuss your next assignment, shall we?" Lars asked, motioning for them to follow.

Entering inside the large atrium of Lars' establishment, Homer thought once again how they had suddenly been teleported to some different world. He had been here before, but every time he gets surprised about the sudden change. The outside was dirty and full of dust, as expected for a rural area, yet as they entered inside, everything seemed clean and polished. Actually, he was mystified how a house made of highly lacquered wood could look so great. Then he would remember that the house had been built by Lars' slaves and everything would finally fit. They were probably cleaning every speck of dust as it formed, and the worst part was that they didn't even know they weren't born as slaves, but rather as normal and free settlers. Lars was a slave trader that had found some Goa'uld lab where something akin to Nish'ta had been developed. The brainwashing drug was able to convince a person that he or she was one of Lars' slaves and no electric shock would terminate the mind control over them like it did with previous brainwashing drugs. The only negative effect of the drug was that people who were infected by it, most of the time ended with some type of neurological disorder. It limited how Lars could use the drug, as people under it wouldn't pass as their usual selves anymore.

Lars sat behind his lavish desk in his leather armchair. "Please, sit!"

They obeyed by taking their seat in front of the man. He noticed as one of the men that had carried the payment had nodded to Lars.

"It seems everything is in order with the payment, which means the client was content with the merchandise, yes?" Lars asked.

"There were no complaints," Homer responded. The merchandise Lars was speaking of was nothing else than eight hundred slaves meant for a warlord on another planet who needed strong arms to work in the Naquadah mines. There was nothing better than brainwashed slaves who didn't protest about being as such, and the high demand was assuring Lars massive earnings with each additional deal he made.

"Good, good. I must say, during these last few months you have done some impeccable work that has leveraged some of my obligations. Frankly, I don't know how I would have managed to do everything without the two of you," Lars said, genuinely grateful.

It wasn't strange that he was having trouble managing everything. The guy was paranoid as hell. Six months ago, he was doing everything alone. He would work the deliveries, he would make contacts and go talk to clients and he would even go collect payments. The man was convinced that some of his people would learn enough of his secrets to stab him in the back. Because of it, he had compartmentalized his operation to such a degree so that none of his direct subordinates could know how everything was done in his business. The drawback was that he needed to do a lot of things alone. His people were there mostly to collect people from whatever planet they could and bring them here to be brainwashed before another group of people would transport them to the intended buyer. However, here came the most critical part. The talking to the clients, brainwashing process, and after the cargo was delivered to receive payment was what he never gave his people to do. He was so paranoid about his own people that he trusted more his clients that didn't have to pay upon delivery, but rather afterward to somebody else than to the person who had brought the slaves to them.

And here was where the two Terran agents came into play. As brokers, they didn't have any interest in becoming fully-fledged slave traders and they didn't know anything about the rest of the operation, from acquiring the merchandise, to brainwashing it or delivering it to the clients. The brokers also came to Lars by promising delivery of payment by covering any possible loss after the payment had been received, and all that for only seven percent of the value of the shipped goods. To a man such as Lars, it was as if Christmas came early this year, with plenty of gifts to boost.

"I am glad to hear our services are well received," Homer replied, at the same time as one of the grunts came near them and put a smaller box on the table. It was their cut for completing the job. "Do you have another job for us or do we have some free time in which to spend what we have just earned?"

"I'm afraid any vacation you might have planned will have to wait because I have an urgent job for you. Actually, it is two jobs that you can do together," Lars explained, dropping a small crystal he took from his vest on the table. "The first is to go to the coordinates you'll find on this crystal. There is also an authorization code and instructions you'll need to follow in order to be allowed to land on the planet."

Homer and Barns both made a strange face. Homer was the one to ask. "Authorization to land on a planet? What kind of planet is that?"

"A planet with a very big population and a government that you'll have to evade," Lars explained.

"I don't like the sound of that," Barns butted in. Homer agreed fully.

"It is not as bad as it sounds. The client guarantees your safety. As long as you follow the protocol specified on the crystal to the letter, you'll be allowed to land somewhere where you'll meet the client. The client will then give you the exact numbers of what he needs. You know the price, so as usual, you'll have to ask for a twenty percent payment in advance, nonnegotiable. The client assures me that it will be a lucrative and long-term cooperation, which means, no screw-ups. I want that client. If the volume of merchandise is going to be as big as I think it will, I believe all of us will be able to retire very quickly. Not that I have any intention of retiring."

"No problem, but if I see strange ships converging on my position after I give the codes, we are out of there," Homer said.

"Agreed. However, the contact that set this up is someone I trust. Better for him that it is true because if not he's going straight on my shit list. And nobody wants to be on it."

"You said there were two jobs," Barns added, impassively.

"Oh, yeah, almost forgot. The second job is easy. You only need to take possession of a package and bring it here. It isn't anything illegal or something that would get you in some kind of trouble. However, it is still something that I really need to take possession of. I'm willing to pay you two ounces of weapons-grade Naquadah upon delivery."

Homer's eyes grew. It was illegal to possess or buy the substance on Earth, and the Terran Federation had enough of it thanks to Anubis' asteroid and other mining operations but still, they did put a price on the substance in various Earth currencies. One gram of weapons-grade Naquadah was 4,000 Terran credits, which would be somewhere around $9,000. Two ounces were around 55 grams, which meant the man was prepared to pay 220,000 Terran Credits or the equivalent of $495,000. Half a million dollars for one trip to get something that wasn't even illegal.

He didn't like it. "Would it fit in our cargo hold?"

"With room to spare. Actually, it just fits inside the rings, and there's only one package.

"What's the catch?" Barns added.

Lars leaned forward, smiling at the man he knew as Barns. "I like your attitude. However, there's no catch this time. It is not how much it is worth, but how much the cargo will bring me wealth in the future. I simply must have it, which means that, even though I don't expect any problems, I would like you to take any precaution you can conceive of. I also like your philosophy that you are prepared to cover the cost if you lose the cargo. In this case, I'll expect a replacement if you lose the original, is that understood?"

"I am beginning to doubt our policy of guaranteed delivery. One day it will cost us, I am sure of it," Homer said. He needed to play the part. It was never a good thing to agree with anything people like Lars asked of you.

"Well, that's your problem, not mine. Until you decide to change your policy, I am more than willing to do business with you, and enjoy the conditions you set."

Homer smiled, and Lars smiled back. To Lars, his smile probably meant that everything was fine with their deal. He did not know that the reason why Homer was smiling was because he was thinking of the day when the TSN would finally come. The call would most certainly ask for a few Defiants and an assault carrier to rain death upon Lars and his slave trading business. Homer was smiling, knowing that such outcome was as inevitable as it was the rising of the sun every day.

A slave brought drinks which Homer and Barns had no intention of drinking, the same as every time before. You never drank something Lars gave you. Unfortunately, as she put Lars' drink on the table, some of the drink spilled over. Lars face changed into the one they knew so well and hated even more. The face of the psycho who unceremoniously kicked the woman – or maybe better to say, the child - for a stupid reason such as spilling some drink on the table. "Can you be any clumsier?"

"Sorry… I'm really sorry… I'll clean and I'll bring you a new one," the girl replied fearfully.

"Do it fast or you won't like the people I'm going to sell you to," Lars said angrily.

Homer mused how the most difficult part of their job was to not be able to shoot people when you really want to. The worst part was that the girl who couldn't be more than sixteen, the same as any other settler on the planet, was under Lars' spell. She was brainwashed to such extent that no matter what kind of abuse she had to endure, she would still stay loyal to Lars. Also, the reason why she spilled the drink was the occasional tremor in her hand, gift of whatever brainwashing method Lars was using. More and more he was convinced that whatever Lars had found wasn't the final product, but rather some half-finished product the Goa'uld hadn't been able to perfect. There were side effects they had never had to deal with, with any other variation of nish'ta they had come across. Two months ago they had performed scans on a few unsuspecting settlers while they had been fast asleep. Scans had shown the brainwashing had caused lasting damage in people's cerebral cortex and even nervous system. Even if they somehow freed them without instigating them into commit suicide, there was still no hope of completely reversing what had been done to them.

"As you can see, it is not easy to come up with good help," Lars said smiling.

He was trying to be funny, maybe. The only thing Homer could think of was the sensation he would feel while choking the life out of the man. He smiled too. "I know. It is such a problem these days. How distant are the planets we need to travel to?"

"The one where you'll have to broker a deal is twelve hundred light years from here. The place where you'll have to pick up my delivery is around 800 hundred light years from here, almost on the same path as the other job. The detour will be minimal," Lars answered. He then added in an inquiring tone. "All of that is on the crystal I gave you. Why do you ask?"

"Because you asked us to take any precaution. My estimate is that this job will take around fifteen days. If I add a few days, and if we are going in the right direction, I could visit an acquaintance of mine that can upgrade our ship," Homer replied.

"Weapons?" Lars asked.

"No. In our business, weapons will more likely get you killed than save you. If you're targeted by pirates, the better option is to flee rather than to try fighting an Al'kesh or some other ship of the same size. Even if you somehow win the fight, the inevitable repairs will cost you more than the transport job you did. No, what I was thinking was to install a cloaking device and maybe a few other surprises that would help us escape when the need arises," Homer replied. He wasn't even lying. HQ called and informed them that they have a special delivery in the hidden base the TIA had set up for them in this region of the galaxy. A powerful EMP that, in theory, could fry the circuits of most small ships, those whose owner forgot to spend extra money on some special shielding. There was no way of knocking a ship like a Ha'tak, but if targeted by gliders, Tel'tak or Al'kesh, it could knock them out for the ten meager minutes needed to put some distance between them.

"I like the way you think. Most brokers would start shooting, just like the last brokers who tried working for me, for two entire weeks. The result was, they died, and I lost the payment they were transporting. Not that I care about them dying," Lars responded, again with a smile plastered on his face. "Incompetence must be punished, in one way or another.

"I didn't think you would, Lars," Homer said. "Anyway, which direction?"

"Galactic North," Lars responded.

"Then, I'll make the detour to upgrade the ship. Is it okay if we are back in twenty days?" Homer asked.

"As long as you're on the planet where the contact is waiting in twelve days, I don't mind you taking whatever time you need," Lars said. "I wouldn't want for the deal to fall apart, you know. You can take the cargo you need to bring me whenever. You can do it on the way back.

"Will do," Homer said while glancing at Barns to see if he had something to add. He didn't, as usual. His preference in meetings with Lars was to stay silent and only say something if truly important. "Well then. I think our business here is concluded."

"Do the two of you ever take some rest time? I've never seen you staying here for more than half an hour, and somehow I think the same is true for everywhere else you go."

"I'll rest when I'm dead, or when I'm rich. Whichever comes first," Homer explained.

"As philosophies go, it's not a bad one. However, I think you should enjoy life a little more. You know, even while you're working. I know you're never going to be rich enough to be satisfied anyway. You'll always want more, which means that the only true option in your plan is to rest after death. That's not good."

"There's some truth in what you said. Let's hope that I'm not so greedy that I don't know when to stop piling money," Homer replied while getting on his feet. Barns followed suit, which prompted Lars to do the same.

A handshake, and a quick salute and the two of them were on their way to their transport. As they stepped in front of the vessel, barns inputted the necessary codes for the security system to disengage and for the door to open. They both entered inside the first compartment, then cycled inside the cockpit. Homer, aka Peter, slumped into the pilot's seat with a resounding flop. With his left hand, he slowly began tapping at the console, activating the autopilot and telling it to lift off and speed toward space on the long crawl toward the hyper limit. He then turned towards Barns, aka David, who was already seated at the tactical console.

"It is getting worse. I don't know how many more times I'll be able to seat with Lars in another meeting, and for that meeting to remain bloodless. I can't stomach the guy," Peter said, tired.

"If it wasn't for the fact that he's a slave trader, that he exploits every person he meets, and for the fact that he's a psychopath, he could have been a pretty decent guy," David deadpanned.

Peter was baffled. "If it wasn't for those things, Lars would be a completely different person!"

"So you agree that if not for these things he would be a decent guy," David replied.

David had a weird way to annoy people, and usually, the best way was to simply agree with him and to move on. "Sure. Anyway, let's see where we need to go so I can assess how much time we can spend in our hidden base. I want to install the EMP blaster and the Holo-emitters before we continue with this job. I don't know. I somehow have a bad feeling about this cargo Lars wants so badly."

"I think you'll have an even worse feeling about the other job when you learn where the given coordinates are taking us," David said, more than anything else looking confused.

"Where?"

"Galar."

"Come again?"

"I'm telling you, I know exactly where these coordinates are. I've been on Galar before and I know where the planet is located. Look, even our system is flagging it as Galar when I input the given coordinates," David added.

Peter tapped his console, and his display promptly changed to mirror David's. He could read it clearly. They were going to Galar to make a deal about a slave trade. "I don't understand. Galar is an industrialized world with," he tapped a few buttons, "two point three billion people. What the hell are they doing importing slaves?"

"You're thinking about Galar as a whole. Think more in terms of shady individuals from Galar."

"Even so. What are they going to do with a few hundred slaves? Most slaves Lars deals with end up in Naquadah mines," It was the most lucrative business where slaves were in high demand. Especially since most worlds had a small population and no industry to speak of. A solid workforce was always in high demand, and the slaves would be run ragged until they dropped dead.

"Sex slaves maybe?" David asked.

"It's possible, but I'm still not convinced," Peter answered while scratching his head. He was feeling confused, and when he felt confused, he knew it almost always meant that something wasn't as it appeared.

"Why is it so difficult for you to believe? There are assholes everywhere you go, even on Earth. And if there's a lucrative opportunity, there are those who'll do whatever it takes to score some easy money."

"That's exactly my point. There are assholes everywhere, even on Galar, and they have been there for a very long time, which means Galar already has a well-established human trafficking ring. Why would anyone on Galar bother importing hundreds or even thousands of slaves a month from off world with all the difficulties that come with it? The need for interstellar transportation, Lars' price tag on his slaves that's not to be laughed at, and the logistics of landing a Goa'uld transport ship on Galar while keeping it on the down low is almost unthinkable!"

It took a while for David to reply. "You may be onto something. Local human trafficking should be cheaper and be able to sneak a Goa'uld ship without the Galaran Space Navy checking it thoroughly can't be easy. We are talking about some serious grease here to some very highly positioned individuals in order to pull something like this off."

"I have no clue how the two of us are going to land on Galar without being boarded, much less a Goa'uld troop transport full of slaves! No, something is clearly wrong here," Peter said. He then turned his head in David's direction. "Didn't you say that you visited Galar once?"

"That I did. While a member of SG-12. Several times in fact."

"Will it be a problem? The last thing we need is for you to be recognized by someone who was there."

"I don't think that would happen. I think we are going to land in some secluded place where no governmental officials who I might have met would be there. Nevertheless, just in case, I'll use one of the mimicking devices we have onboard."

"Good thinking. What about the protocol we need to use when we reach Galar."

"There's not much to it. Here we have the frequency to use to contact someone on the only space station orbiting the planet, and here is the authentication code we need to send when challenged. After that, we should be getting the landing coordinates," David explained, clearly puzzled how easy it was.

Peter was also puzzled. He thought the protocol would be more in the general direction of – hide behind the moon, send the codes to some unpopulated place on the planet, and wait there until someone tells you that you can sneak on the planet. Probably while on a ballistic trajectory under cloak not to be detected. Otherwise, expect to be shot by any of the patrolling warships in orbit or satellite defenses. Instead, the way to make contact was very straightforward. It also meant that the Galaran Navy would let them pass, which would indicate these people had some pull with the Galaran government.

It was giving him a headache. He knew he wouldn't be able to find the answer on what was really going on. He knew that something wasn't right, but he also knew that he would find out what exactly only after having landed on Galar. Or maybe not even then. "No point in pondering about it any longer. For now, let's plot a course for base."

"Why do you want to go there right now?"

"I told you. I have a bad feeling about our latest job. Having that EMP blaster could save us from some tight situation without having to blow our cover. We are also at twenty percent on our Naquadah/Naquadria reactor reserves and although that could last us for much longer than how long this mission is going to take, there's no reason why not take care of it at the same time and before things go completely sideways."

"Why don't you just admit that you're a control freak and that ever since the reactor went bellow fifty you were having trouble sleeping?"

"I'm not only admitting it, but I'm also proud of it," Peter replied, with a smug face.

"Sure, sure," David responded, but he was clearly thinking about something else. "How much longer do you think?"

It was a good question. They were starting to be fed up of working for Lars, but there was still work to be done. "Lars still doesn't trust us; not fully anyway. He is still keeping his biggest clients for himself. Giving us such a big account from the very beginning is a clear sign that he's starting to trust us. We can expect more work from him, and with a bit of luck, we can get the full list of clients in a few more months. After that, we only need to learn where he keeps his lab with the brainwashing equipment and we can outsource the final phase of our mission to the TSN."

The biggest problem was that they needed to keep their cover intact. After Lars was long gone and probably defunct, the two of them would still work as brokers but for some other clients. They will probably be doing the same job five years from now, slowly cleaning the galaxy of scum who thought that slavery was fine, both those doing the selling and those doing the buying of slaves. However, for that to happen they needn't be involved in the taking down process. That was something that would be done by the Terran Navy, unexpectedly showing up with a large contingent of marines and enough ships to blast whatever Lars had ten times over.

"A few months too many," David replied while getting up and moving back in the rear of the ship. He had been the one to pilot the ship for the last eight hours, so it was time for him to take some well-deserved rest. Three days to reach their hidden base, a day to install the components the TIA had delivered, an hour to swap the Naquadah/Naquadria rods with new ones, and they were good to get back on the road. Five days later at the soonest, they could be in the Galar system. Hopefully, the stay on the planet would be short. Make the deal, get paid the twenty percent down payment and leave. The only thing remaining would be to reach the slightly off course planet where the package Lars wanted so badly was waiting to be picked up. Payment had already been settled by Lars and they would get a hefty 200,000 T-credits for it. These two things didn't sit well in his mind. If Lars had already made payment, it meant he trusted the suppliers more than he ever thought Lars would trust anyone. The high fee they were receiving was also alluding how important this package was. He knew he would spend the next ten days mulling over what it could possibly be without finding the right answer. It was frustrating. Maybe David was right, and he truly was a control freak. One that needed to know everything and have the right plan for every occasion.

As the nimble Corvette made its way past Lars' ship at great velocity, he slumped in his anti-shock chair, reclining it as much as it went. He had set the system to blast a loud warning sound if anything moving was on approach. He would take a nap and, hopefully, spend a good portion of his shift in delightful oblivion.

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 _ **Thanks for reading. Leave a review if you feel like it.**_


	13. Serve & Protect

**Author's note:** This, I think, came out as a pretty decent chapter. A long one too.

 _ **Thanks to my beta, and hope you'll like reading this chapter.**_

* * *

The time of SG teams exploring the galaxy through the gate came to an abrupt end the same day the interdiction device came online. It was this Mitchell's current train of thought as he sat in the command chair of the _Sao Paulo_ , another one in a seemingly endless stream of freshly built _Defiant_ class attack warships. Since the usage of the stargate network had become impossible between most worlds in the Milky Way galaxy, the only way to travel between those distant worlds was via ship. This was, by far, a much slower way of travel than by simply walking through the very useful rounded device. Instead of seconds, now a team needed to board a ship, travel to the hyper limit before entering hyperspace, travel for how long it took to reach the intended star system, and then once again crawl at sublight speed in order to reach the inhabited planet.

Everybody was in full accord that losing days on travel for a small team to reach a planet was on many occasions a wasteful endeavor. Because of it, as the best solution they could think of for now, teams were put in charge of _Defiant_ -class ships or in some cases other smaller vessels like the new corvettes and placed on space stations, hidden inside nebulas located all around the galaxy, always ready when the call would come to embark on another mission. Of course, an SG team had four members, in contrast to operating a _Defiant-_ class ship that, if fully crewed, took two dozen people working in shifts. Still, everybody thought it was acceptable because they currently had a surplus of Defiants and because they needed as many people training on veritable warships for when they would take command of even bigger ones. Capital ships like heavy cruisers, battlecruisers, or other even larger ones.

Those meant as the spear in the upcoming Vargas offensive.

Mitchell would succumb to that not so distant future, too. He who, with all his might, was trying to postpone the inevitable moment when he got command of a capital ship. These days, being in command of a capital ship wasn't very interesting. Most of the heavy hitters were inside important systems, Terran or of allies, waiting for an enemy that would probably never come. At least, not likely after the beating the Vargas had suffered in Sol. On the other hand, Defiants, ships like assault carriers, and maybe even a few extra heavy cruisers, could be found on the front line, mostly seeking engagements with the Vargas minions currently spread across the entire Milky Way galaxy. Quick at reaching a system and with their upgraded sublight drives even quicker at reaching the threatened inhabited planet, these three types of ships were the spears that fought the Reapers and Hunters currently plaguing their home galaxy.

Three days ago, Mitchell and his teams had gotten new orders, upon which receipt had immediately boarded their little ship, the Sao Paulo, and traveled four thousand light years in order to reach Tagrea. Tagrea was an allied world that thus far had thankfully been spared the horrors of meeting the Reapers. Mitchell's mission was to bring them the blueprints of the new and easy to build defensive satellites - the same the Jaffa had recently received - as well as a team of engineers to help them in setting up the necessary production lines. While other human races like the Optricans and Galarans had been fighting the Aschen side by side with the Jaffa, the Tagreans had spent that time occupied by the Ori followers who had forced them to prostrate for endless hours or otherwise suffer some incurable plague, some infestation of deadly bugs, or if not then some other equally deadly method the priors would devise. The war against the Ori and Aschen had eventually been won by others and Tagrea once again became a free world. However, during the Ori occupation, their technology had somewhat regressed, as it was usual for the priors to force any race under their control to forget about inconsequential things like electricity and other similar silly things that had nothing to do with endless praying. It didn't go to such extent as to turn them into a medieval society only because the occupation didn't last long enough. However, it still took the Tagreans a couple of years to return to their normal self. A normal state that was now far behind some of the other more populous human worlds.

To most worlds in the Milky Way galaxy, Tagrea would look like a very advanced world, yet when it came to fending off invaders from space, they were in a dire situation. With no spaceships or orbital defenses worth of the name, the only way to fight off an invasion was inside the planet's atmosphere or with the use of long-range ballistic missiles, which was far from ideal. To aggravate the situation even further, Tagrea was a world with very little in terms of high-value resources, like Naquadah, Trinium or other metals or minerals that could easily be exchanged on other worlds for some much-needed valuables. Yet, the Tagreans were among the friendliest human races out there and the Terrans wanted to provide them with some kind of protection. The first and most obvious solution had been to leave a battle group in the system in case the Reapers decided to pay them an unsolicited visit. This made the Tagreans feel safer, knowing that there weren't many races capable of going against an older battleship, three new heavy cruisers, two assault carriers and six defiant attack ships. However, there would be a time when the Terrans would go on the offensive and be forced to keep a large number of ships bogged down in defense of allied worlds that were unable to show even the barest of defensive capabilities is never a good thing. As far as the Terrans knew, there are more than twenty thousand habitable planets with or without a gate in the galaxy and too many of them are inhabited yet without any means of defending themselves. From that, it could be easily deduced that, even if the Second Great Alliance in its entirety had thousands upon thousands of ships at their disposal, free to be moved wherever, they'd still come out far short when attempting to protect all those planets.

Very short indeed.

The Terrans needed to free resources by having individual planets defended by numerous satellites capable of stopping or at least postponing an attack on the surface of a planet long enough for a patrol to come to their aid. If the attack was exclusively comprised of Reapers in moderate numbers, the newly developed satellites and the occasional defenses placed on the ground should be enough to fend them off with relative ease.

This had been the task Mitchell had successfully completed, with Tagrea now in the process of building the production lines necessary for the satellites and cannons to be built with the given specs. With his mission completed, Mitchell's Defiant, in conjunction with three more sister ships, an additional heavy cruiser, and two assault carriers, all began their trek towards home. Those ships had been taken from the battle group that had been tasked to protect Tagrea and would be joining a new battle group, one Mitchell would be part of after he takes command of the next battlecruiser planned to exit the shipyards in a month. He wasn't ready, but a quick talk with Jack told him that there wouldn't be any additional postponement, not anymore. Mitchell didn't like it. It wasn't in his character to be a Captain (Senior Grade) in charge of hundreds of sailors. He always thought of himself more of a lone wolf, a fighter pilot, or at best in charge of a small group of people. _Very_ small group.

 _'But hundreds? Never!'_

He didn't have a choice. The day when they would go out seeking the Vargas in the vastness of the universe was fast approaching and the Navy needed experienced people with years of service behind them to be in charge of capital ships that would be sent millions of light years away and where they would have sporadic or no contact at all with home. Mitchell was one of those who in the past decade had learned to deal with aliens and alien situations with a cool head. Last year he had spent captaining the Sao Paulo or by performing countless simulations in the VR environment. Simulations that had prepared him for when he'd bump ranks and got a brand new battlecruiser to commandeer as punishment for his exemplary career. The simulations showed that he was ready and he had to agree. He was good at whatever simulation the sadists in the Navy had come up with. That wasn't the problem at all. The problem was that he didn't know how to order around a few hundred sailors. Jack explained to him that he was worrying too much for no good reason. What he needed to do was to stand tall on the bridge, always looking as the king of the hill, and always emanating an aura of competence and certainty with every order given to the crew. The rest was to leave the always eager XO to do the actual running of the ship. This was just the kind of advice he would expect from Jack. When he'd forced Sheppard to take the bump in rank to rear admiral, it was by explaining how an admiral can do whatever he wants. The weird thing is that it had worked, with Sheppard taking the job… and in the process making Weir's life a living hell.

He suspected Jack had done the same thing to him and that only after he sat in the big chair that he would truly learn the truth of his new position.

Mitchell sighed, while comfortably seated in Sao Paulo's command chair. It didn't matter right now. Now he was the captain of a defiant class ship and together with the other Terran ships, they had been redirected to a nearby system. One with a relatively new Hebridian colony in it. It seemed the Hebridians were under attack and, as expected, they were out of their depths. In recent years, the Hebridians had begun listening to the Terrans and other humans in the galaxy. They were all telling them to invest some of their hard-earned capitalistic money in life insurance. Life insurance in the form of warships and fixed defenses capable of protecting their planets against those that would end them without a second thought. They had been listening and in a way, they'd even acquiesced by building a bare minimum of defensive satellites and by arming their nonmilitary vessels. They even began building a few warships worthy of the name. However, while the Terrans were building thousands, the Hebridians were building warships numbering barely in the two digits range. It wasn't enough and many, like the Jaffa, were laughing at them. The Hebridians had in the past built more warships for the Jaffa - at a cost, of course - than they were building for themselves.

Now, the chickens have finally come to roost. The Reapers were inbound and the Hebridians were panicking. They were calling for help in stopping the incoming armada, an armada comprised of hundreds of reapers accompanied sixteen motherships, a dozen hunter ships, and some bulky cargo ships that everybody knew were there to drop countless recently hatched Crabs on their collective heads.

And certainly, nobody wants for so many unwanted guests to suddenly be dropping at your doorstep.

There was a point of contention between the most senior captain in their unofficial battle group, James Thornton, and him. After their initial arrival in the Hebridian system, some sixty light minutes from the only inhabited planet, their inward trek began. At 6 kps2 or 600 gees of acceleration, it would take them almost eight hours to reach the Hebridian colony. Unfortunately, the hostiles had arrived in the system five hours earlier and at a steady 3kps2, they would reach the planet before any friendlies could. And everybody knew the Hebridian defenders wouldn't survive for very long.

Which was the reason for the heated debate that had ensued between the two captains. Mitchell knew that the four Defiants were rated for a constant burn of 9kps2, considerably higher than the heavy cruisers and the Assault carriers. The Defiant could for a short period even push well above 10kps2 if need be, which would allow the four attack ships to reach the enemy well before they reached the Hebridian system. Contrary to his initial prediction, the most senior captain in their little battle group, James Thornton, did not agree with his plan of splitting the fleet. In the man's opinion, four Defiants were not a good fit to go against so many hostiles of so many different types no less. The Defiant was far from being indestructible. Moreover, it heavily relied on its superior maneuverability allowing the nimble ship to evade most of the incoming fire instead of letting its shield deal with it. However, with so many smaller Reapers, the ship could not be expected to evade everything, or even most of the weapons fire everybody knew would come down raining on the four Defiants the moment they entered weapons range alone and with no support whatsoever. They needed the support of the fighters and corvettes carried inside the bowels of the two assault carriers, as well as their flak capabilities due to the rows of plasma repeaters placed everywhere on their hulls. The addition of the heavy cruiser would bring a heavy hitter capable of blasting larger hostiles with relative ease and from a longer range.

Mitchell wanted to go right now and reach the planet before the hostiles could, but Thornton wanted the four Defiants to survive and be able to fight again another day. In the end, his incessant nagging bordering to insubordination had convinced Thornton to allow the Defiants to make a last minute dash, bringing them first into the fray but only for the first fifteen or so minutes until the rest of the battle group could arrive. It was all the man was going to concede and Mitchell knew when it was time to stop pestering and be happy with what he got.

No matter, the unfortunate result was that he was currently watching the main view screen depicting the battle that had just begun between the hostiles and the defenders. Some two dozen mismatched Hebridian ships that by no stretch of the imagination would anyone classify as warships, except for one lonely recent addition mixed in the mismatched group. That lonely warship, supported by orbital platforms that had never been tested against true hostiles, was the only true defender against the invaders.

Their belated militarization could end up costing the Hebridians their colony. The saddest part was that the Hebridians would probably go and calculate the trillions of whatever passed as their currency they had lost more promptly than using the number of lives this incursion would cost them. In the end, it didn't matter. If this incident ends up making the Hebridians understand that the lack of adequate defenses could cost them dearly, and hence force them to reevaluate their currently relaxed and completely irrational attitude, then something good might still come out of this. Next time could be their home system coming under attack and simply putting the resulting devastation in monetary terms would not suffice in such an unwanted event. Not when the destruction of their civilization was a concern.

Nonetheless, his job here was to try to prevent even one Hebridian death from occurring. Something that, as he watched the display, he knew he had already failed at. The two dozen transport ships turned into improvised warships were already at the mercy of the invaders. Slapping a shield generator and some plasma guns on a transport ship did not turn it into a warship worthy of the name. Far from it. Nevertheless, Hebridian tech was at a level that would at least delay the Reapers and Hunters from raining death on their colony. The Hebridians were actually fighting smartly, evading whenever possible, while targeting those hostiles that they knew their weapons could harm and maybe even have a chance of destroying quickly, which were the reapers. Their plasma cannons were capable of blowing up the buggers, as opposed to the futility of targeting a shielded capital ship like those of the Hunters. Even a mothership was too tough and it would take too much time for the Hebridians to break. Better cleaning the small fry first and leave the other unwanted to the inbound Terran warships. Their evasive tactic was also buying – probably annoying the invaders, too – them some much needed time.

"One of the Hebridian defenders is taking a hard beating. It won't last long," Peters said from the helm.

The incessant pounding had punctured the ship's shield on its starboard side. Weapon emplacements were quickly being destroyed and breaches were beginning to form. Impacts on the hull were quickly escalating to crippling amounts. The ship began spinning and there was no more return fire coming from it. Then, a sudden, massive detonation broke the ship in half. The cargo ships never had the armored hull that would have allowed them to survive for longer than a meager minute after its shield was punctured.

"Yes, I can see that. How is the only Hebridian warship faring?" Mitchell asked.

"It's being pounded by six hunter ships. It won't last long either," Lawrence from the tactical console stated.

"Give me a precise prediction here." He wanted a number. He wanted to know if the tough Hebridian warship could survive until they reached them. The ship was approximately in the same class as a Ha'tak, maybe even a little stronger because of its larger size, which placed it in a higher class than that of a Hunter ship. However, against six of them, it was unquestionably an unfair fight. One warship against six, he knew, wouldn't last very long.

"Maybe ten minutes, if they get close to their orbital platforms. The Hunters should lessen the attack. I'm sure they would do some reprioritizing."

"Send them the suggestion. Say that they need to survive for ten more minutes, whatever the cost." It wasn't just altruism or a deep wish to save as many Hebridians as possible. They simply needed the warship to stay alive and fight even after the Defiants show up. One reason was the known fact that four Defiants could not fight all present enemies alone. A veritable warship on their side would make things much easier. Another reason was that the only control system over the orbital platforms was onboard the only warship in the system. They should have added another on the ground of the planet, but when a race doesn't prioritize enough their wellbeing, they don't only forget to build enough warships, but also other defensive installations as well.

"They've acknowledged receipt of the message. They are redeploying now."

This would, in turn, put an additional strain on an already strained planetary defense system that at the moment was fending off many Reapers, those trying to break through and plunge into the undefended atmosphere of the planet. The Hebridians had also done the mistake of disregarding the need to build bunkers or some kind of ground shielding that would provide a modicum of protection for their colonists. Instead, the situation on the ground had long ago sprawled into utter chaos. Hebridians were running everywhere, most of them clearly attempting to flee urban areas as those were thought to be on the top of the invaders' to-destroy list. It wasn't illogical to think that, far from it. Certainly, the invaders were planning on targeting cities and towns. However, the Hebridians did not know the easy picking for the two thousand or so of the smallest Reapers they would turn out to be. By dropping Crabs, those Hebridians that ran like headless chickens into forests – usually, without taking a gun with them - would shortly suffer a heinous death. He needed to prevent it, but he couldn't. There was not enough time, and even if there were, even if somehow the four valiant Defiants reached the planet in time, there was nothing they could do to stop the thousands of smallest reapers inbound with the planet's surface. For that, only the F-302 or the new Corvettes that had only recently been added to the Terran ever growing arsenal could plunge into the atmosphere and take on the smallest Reapers.

And those were still lagging twenty minutes behind.

Another cargo turned into warship exploded under the unfair assault of one Reaper mothership and two hunter ships. Mitchell sighed. He wasn't sure what the invaders were thinking. Leaving the Defiants and the assault carriers aside, the invaders should be aware of the power of the incoming heavy cruiser. Once the ship came into weapons range and opened up with its heavy lances, it would be hell to pay. The hunters and the reapers were not prepared to face a capital ship the Terrans had built specifically to fight the strongest of the Vargas ships. Moreover, this particular heavy cruiser had gone through the latest improvements, which meant its arsenal was fully available to its crew to be used liberally. The Damocles was the ship with the highest ratio of offensive power and size, and the ship's class name was apt insofar as the life of every enemy in its presence hung on a single hair of a horse's tail, just like in the old anecdote in which a long sword did hang in the same way above the unfortunate Damocles.

They should be running. Hell, when he thought a little more about it, he knew it was already too late for them to run. They should have done it a long time ago, the very moment they saw the Terrans exiting hyperspace. He could understand the reapers and their AI's decision to stay, as such artificial constructs did not care for things like survival. But the Hunters had to be different. They should be scrambling to all corners of the system in an attempt to save themselves, knowing that a single heavy cruiser could not follow them all, yet a direct confrontation could end in only one way. Instead, they were staying and fighting a fight that could only be lost. Were they so desperate to take as many with them to their deaths to throw away their lives? He did not know.

"Sir, three minutes to achieving long range weapons lock," the tactical officer informed.

Not that it mattered much. There was no point in harassing the invaders at a few hundred thousand klicks with their modest supply of missiles. It would be a pure waste of ammo and nothing more. They needed to reach close range, they needed to enter a dogfight and show them what the Defiants and their crews were capable of. But for that, for showing the enemy what they were truly up against, they needed to go one step further. One step more, boldly, where no one has gone before, except in simulations. And even there, the experience had been… troubling.

It was also only possible because their Defiants went through the latest modifications only a month's prior.

"All right people. There's no point in delaying it any longer," Mitchell stated. There was growling on the bridge. He wasn't the only one who didn't like the sensation. The one that would come later, after it was all over. "Tactical, alert the crew and begin procedures for full immersion."

The bridge dimmed with a tint of red, all chairs reclined and an opaque canopy closed each crew member inside a cocoon that had an additional inertial compensator attached to it to provide additional protection to each individual member during ludicrous maneuvers. It didn't take long before every member on the entire ship was safely encased inside their apposite cocoons. It was only then, once they all were inside and ready when their minds suddenly went someplace else.

Somewhere where all minds became one with the ship.

The sensations from the activation of the neural net were probably similar to those felt when being born. Confusion, fear… the feeling of the unknown. Those were the sensations Mitchell felt right now. Immersed in this foreign, artificial construct, he had no eyes, no ears, and no sense of smell. He could not touch or be touched, he could not shout to be heard or hear others. Yet, he could sense everything. He could sense the presence he had learned to recognize as Peters, or the one of his tactical officer, or even the one of the chief engineer in engineering.

They were one now, yet, at the same time, they were many.

The ship was also a presence, one he had learned with time to sync with properly. He could feel what the ship felt. Its sensors, optics, RADAR, LIDAR, those were the many eyes he now had. Eyes that were giving him a 360-degree detailed spectacle in the vastness of space. It was as if he could now understand on his own what sensors truly were, even more so during simulations where there had been subspace to work with, how they were probing a layer that wasn't space yet was connected to it and translated information from it. It was like some sort of telepathy and extra-sensorial input that cannot be described by the mere comparison with any of the other known human senses.

The presence known as his tactical officer was thinking about their approach and how they should focus on the Hunter ships currently attacking the Hebridian warship first and foremost. The focus should be to spray them with the shield draining weapon and by performing strafe runs on all six attackers. He agreed, and the officer instantly knew that he had. Then, he sensed how a different presence felt eager. That could be no other than Peters at the helm. In this configuration, the ship could do some incredible things without the crew instantly turning into goo, splashed all over some wall after the first fast turn. He smiled, and Peters knew he agreed they should go all out. Without warning, the ship exploded in a serious of joyful flips and turns performed so swiftly that the eyes couldn't follow.

Fortunately, they did not need eyes.

They were now entering close weapons range and the 360-degree sense of the surrounding exploded in a tactical representation comprised of countless additional lines, vectors, endless scrolling information constantly being generated, and depictions of the battle Theater no human could ever be able to fully see, interpret and lastly comprehend. Yet, he could easily see the vector showing the closest ship's trajectory, the firing arcs of its weapons, the predictions the Sao Paulo was making for possible future impacts, the detailed representation of the hostile ship's shield, the complexity of the energy matrix seen by the many sensors on the ship and then combined into one complex representation. In some ways, it was technological art born into the cold emptiness of space he wouldn't mind watching for hours if it weren't for the charged situation they were currently in. It was breathtaking, and it was something that he couldn't depict with mere words as, again, there was no true comparison.

As predicted, the hunter ship fired straight at them and well inside the depicted firing arc. Then there was a sudden blur of motion that alone would have left most people disoriented for minutes. Peters put the Defiant into such a fast course change that his brain simply could not follow. He only knew that they were now on a parallel course, hundreds of meters away from the incoming weapons fire. How they got there wasn't very clear, though. The tactical officer was already thinking of the ideal approach that would give them the best firing solution. As he found it, Peters was almost instinctively doing the necessary course changes by also taking into account the possible firing solutions the enemy could come up with in return. At breakneck speed, literally, the _Sao Paulo_ performed a fly by, spraying its shield draining energy pulses as fast as it could, not caring much where exactly the impact on the targeted shield would occur as long as they all did. Behind them, the remaining three Defiants were performing the same choreographed dance, coordinated to such a degree by a system that allowed humans to do the humanly impossible.

Mitchell could clearly see all the weapon arcs from the multitude of enemies, dozens of them, all attempting to hit his agile ship. Peters was making the _Sao Paulo_ move so quickly and in such a way that he was making it seem as if it was some kind of acrobatic dance, every time passing through narrow corridors where there were no weapon arcs the enemy could use to engage them. However, there was something to be said about numbers too, unfortunately.

The first impact happened only moments later. He clearly saw that the safe corridors where Peters could take them had simply vanished, replaced by overlapping arcs denying a clear escape. There was simply no escaping from some of the now fired and fast approaching weapons fire. Apparently, their shields would have to do their part of the job too.

He had to admit, the impact seemed pretty. It was a good way to describe what he saw and felt. The represented quasi self-sustainable energy matrix, the glowing wall comprised of energy particles of various sizes and colors that surrounded and protected their ship and usually being simply known as a shield, took the blow in stride. There was a slight lessening, or maybe becoming thinner was a better way to describe it, of the energy particle density where the impact had occurred. A thinning that was quickly being reconstituted by the almost instantaneous transfer of nearby energy particles, once again forming a uniform protective energy wall all around the _Sao Paulo_. The overall energy matrix had dropped by two percent because of the blow, a blow far too weak to have even a slim chance of penetrating the dense wall of different energy particles kept together through their complex interaction aided by the shield emitters. The shield emitters immediately went to work on overdrive in an attempt to restore what was lost.

Unfortunately, this was only the first of many blows that hit the shield.

The four Defiants were doing a great job. The Hunter ships had all been blasted by multiple shield-draining-charges that would eventually force their shield to drop. However, before that happens, the Defiant had time to devote some of their time to other targets. The smaller Reapers were difficult. Except for the two light plasma lances, one on top and one on the Defiant's bottom, both capable of fast and precise firing, the ship had a dubious arsenal when facing small, fast movers. The occasional high probability of hit elicited the use of the modest reserve of short-range missiles whenever possible and to great effect. Except for that, the only other target at their disposal were the motherships. The four Defiants were constantly harassing six of the fourteen motherships with their plasma lances and reconfigured pulse quantum disruptors - together capable of inflicting copious amounts of damage - were also firing missiles at the smaller Reapers while constantly monitoring the situation between the Hunters and the only warship the Hebridian had, whenever possible attempting to run interference between the two sides. It was clear that they were overtaxed and the overall positive effect on the battle was becoming dubious. To make things worse, the enemy was quickly learning of their capabilities and more and more they were redeploying in such a way that no matter how fast and maneuverable their ships were, there was no chance of scoring hits without being hit in return. Mitchell saw that the once brilliantly glowing energy matrix that protected his ship was now at half that intensity, the emitters were being overtaxed and were showing signs of deterioration, and the initially overcharged internal energy reserves to double their nominal amount were being depleted at a frightening pace. To make things worse, his Defiant wasn't the worse for wear of the four. The _Georgetown_ and the _Kiev_ were having it worse. The last hit had put the Kiev's shield below 28 percent. The _Georgetown_ fared a little better, with its shield at 44 percent. However, the starboard side had two emitters put out of commission. It left the ship with only two more to provide protection for the entire starboard side and one alone wasn't enough to do the job properly.

The first of the six Hunter ships lost its shielding and like a pack of starving hyenas the four Defiants descended upon the ship and in righteous vengeance unleashed their entire arsenal. Pulse Quantum Disruptors configured to harm the ship's armor fired in droves, lances of superheated plasma penetrated deeper into the bowels of the ship, unimpeded by the, only moments ago, disintegrated armor. The QDBs were doing a great job at creating new openings for other weapons to exploit unimpeded.

Something critical was hit and the rear port side of the targeted large Hunter ship blew taking a large chunk of the ship with it. Two more of the Hunter ships lost their protective bubbles and the four Defiants split into two groups, each going for its designated pray. The _Sao Paulo_ and the _Georgetown_ performed the first strafe run, scoring several good hits. The hostile ship was attempting evasive maneuvers while rolling the ship in order to hide the already damaged side with its exposed inner hull, but it was to no avail. The Defiants were the attack dogs of the Terran Federation. Vicious, fast attackers that could quickly position themselves to attack whatever and wherever it was needed. With an almost impossible series of fast course changes, the _Sao Paulo_ was once again facing the already damaged side of the larger Hunter ship, readily unleashing both of its plasma lances at the target. They might have focused on improved fire rate, particle terminal velocity and reconfigurability of the new weapon system more than they did with its pure destructive force, however, even when it came to power, the new light plasma lances were still roughly in the same power range as the first generation plasma beams used on the Daedalus, which meant their power was more than enough to cause crippling damage to most foes, especially when fired at such close range and at a target that had lost parts of its armor plating. One lance hit the exposed reactor core of the ship, causing a massive explosion that broke the ship into countless smaller chunks, several of them hitting the Sao Paulo's shield as it passed by the now disintegrating ship.

However, this wasn't what was keeping most of Mitchell's attention. While the hostile ship was spectacularly blowing up, the _Georgetown_ had sustained several hits in quick succession on its starboard side, causing another emitter to melt. They had known where to hit the ship for maximum damage; that much was clear. With only one emitter to protect the entire starboard side, weapons fire were bound to pass through, which happened only seconds later. Mitchell saw as a bolt of destructive energy passed through the shield unimpeded, hitting the underlying armor plating. The Defiants were tough, there was no question about it. The powerful weapons the Hunters were using had caused damage, yet it was unable to go through the protective outer layer.

For how long that would be the case, he couldn't tell.

Of course, no matter how eager the Terrans were to blow as many enemies as they could, safety was always their primary concern. Hence, the _Georgetown_ began a series of evasive maneuvers right away, superimposing its shielded port side whenever possible while slowly inching outward and away from the center of the raging battle. The ship would now provide only support while circling the battle while always showing its port side to the enemy. If the enemy decided to pursue, the _Georgetown_ would lure those hostiles away, this way forcing the enemy to stretch and focus less on the Hebridians. However, the Kiev was also in a dire situation as its shield was at a dangerous seventeen percent and some of the energy from each impact was now bleeding through and harming the hull beneath. Another ship that would take a supporting role, which meant more heat coming his way, and the way of the last Defiant of the four, the _Lima_.

The situation was so bad now that the _Sao Paulo_ and the _Lima_ couldn't even take full advantage of the failing shields two more Hunter ships were suffering from. There was simply no way to get a nice approach vector with the target without succumbing to the fire of at least two dozen weapons from multiple ships. The Hunter ships were being protected by the Reapers, something he hadn't anticipated. To him, the idea of the Reapers protecting anyone or anything seemed so foreign. It was true that this has provided some respite to the Hebridian defenders who were now down to only seven surviving ships and less than forty percent the initial number of orbital defense platforms. Worse than that, a large number of the smallest Reapers were freely plunging into the atmosphere on their way to the colony. They needed to survive five more minutes before the rest of the Terran fleet reached them, yet he knew of no strategy he could employ to alleviate the situation. At least not if he weren't ready to employ some highly risky dashes into the enemy formation.

Risky, bordering to suicidal.

Then, the worst outcome happened. The only warship the Hebridians had, began taking heavy damage as its shield failed miserably. The ship was retreating while attempting to evade as many hits as possible, but its attempts were that of someone desperate, someone left with no other option. There were simply too many hostiles and the ship was far from a fast attack ship capable of such a feat. Hit by hit, the ship was starting to crumble under the onslaught. Weapon emplacement had been destroyed and it was clear by now that the warship was nothing more than a wounded and defenseless animal on its last leg.

As predicted, a concentrated attack at the ship's stern soon resulted in a massive explosion that left the ship spinning dead in space. However, there was something that was puzzling Mitchell at the moment. His worry wasn't only about the loss of the only true warship the Hebridians had in the system, but also the loss of the entire defensive grid since the warship was the one in control of it. The confusion lessened quickly after a quick query returned the information that the only heavy cruiser in the system, the _Illinois_ , had been in contact with the Hebridian warship and had acquired from them the necessary control protocol of the orbital platforms in case the worst happened, which it just did. Another good news came shortly in the form of the _Illinois_ entering weapons range and unleashing three heavy plasma lances. They sliced through an unshielded mothership as if it was made of butter, only to _'graze'_ a second one that unfortunately stood right behind it and in the process blowing apart a fifth of the ship.

It would have been great if this was the turning point after which the hostiles were swiftly taken care of, however, the surprises were not over yet. Unfortunately, in an attempt to lessen the load on the Hebridian defenders the Kiev had wandered a little too close back into the fray. A few well-placed hits depleted what little was left of its shield matrix, leaving the underlying armor as the only defense available. The hostiles quickly turned towards the wounded pray. Several more hits rained down in quick succession, irreparably damaging the ship's sublight engines and leaving it unable to even attempt to flee. More hits were constantly pounding the lonely Defiant that, in an act of anger fired everything it had, missiles and energy weapons alike. Many of those weapons were powerful antimatter anti-capital ship weapons and although in this case not used very efficiently, they still managed to score a few good hits that added to the number of hostile ships destroyed. There was no way for any of the other Defiants to reach the Kiev in time. They were simply too far apart.

Mitchell could only watch, unable to do anything.

Another blow took a good chunk of the Kiev's frontal port side plating. The ship's weapons were mostly silent now and parts of the inner hull of the ship were easily seen from outside. It was this when the call came. It was the signal sent when the captain of a vessel knew there was nothing he or anyone else on board could do to save the ship. It was the signal asking for an immediate beam-out of the crew. The Lima was the closest. Entering barely into beaming range, at some fifty thousand kilometers distance, the process began. Mitchell did not know if they all made it before another assault of half a dozen hostiles unleashing everything they got, turned the Kiev into a barely recognizable husk of its former self. An internal explosion signaled the complete destruction of the first Terran Defiant class ship.

Meanwhile, the _Illinois_ was having a field day. Mitchell just watched as the Terran capital ship pushed inside the very heart of the enemy's formation, with the _Ignis_ system deployed and fully charged. The _Ignis_ system was the original version of the Ancient weapon Anubis had more than a decade ago recreated and used to great effect against more numerous enemies, those ships belonging to the System Lord Yu. The system currently employed by the _Illinois_ had six separate _Ignis_ emitters spread evenly on all sides, much smarter than what Anubis had done since his weapon system had a massive defect that Yu had somehow failed to exploit. Anubis could not target another ship if it was located smack beneath its massive ship. A massive ship that did not have the necessary maneuverability to swiftly roll and that way bring its weapon to bear.

As the _Illinois_ went through the hostile formation, it fired in sequence from its Ignis emitters a burst of energy resembling lightning that with each discharge hit and bounced off of several enemies. Moreover, the ship was rotating in order to always bring the right emitter in a firing position of the largest concentration of hostile ships. The weapon had one massive deficiency when compared to other weapon systems like the employed plasma lances. A plasma lance could fire from geosynchronous orbit and hit the ground, which was around 30,000 kilometers distant. The Ignis not only could not pass through the planet's atmosphere in its current configuration, but it also had a limited effective range of only 200 kilometers. Nevertheless, the weapon was among the strongest the Alterra had ever created, at least until somebody developed shielding capable of blocking its destructive energy that not only damaged the target from the outside, but it also trickled inside it through any system found on the outer hull, like shield emitters, weapon emplacements, communication dishes or sometimes even through the hull itself. The Alterrans knew how to configure shields to stop the weapon, which if recreated by the enemy would limit its effectiveness. However, an investigation into the Vargas wreckage had determined that they did not develop shielding capable of stopping the destructive weapon, hence it was possible the weapon could be effectively used even against the Vargas since it could trickle through some system and burn the ship from the inside rather than by damaging the outer armor plating. The final ability of the weapon to jump from one ship to another was the icing on the cake that made it a weapon that needs to be revered.

Multiple enemy capital ships were exploding at a time. This was a trial by fire for the first heavy cruiser that went through the latest improvements and it seemed the R&D had done a great job at it. Even the hostiles suddenly seemed uncertain of what was going on. One thing was fighting a stronger enemy that you knew victory wouldn't come easy. Another was looking at a single ship while it waltzed through your formation, shrugging your weapons off as if they were nothing while blowing ships as if they were nothing more than buoys purely meant for target practice.

It was inevitable. The scattering began almost immediately after seeing the firepower the _Illinois_ had brought with its heavy lances and the Ignis system. The remaining three Hunter ships and the large cargo vessel that was carrying Crabs were burning away from the planet at max acceleration while the Reapers were running interference, sacrificing themselves in the process. The bad part was that the Defiants were not in any position to help. Not in the condition they were in right now. With their shields almost completely depleted, aid with the final mop-up had quickly been dissuaded by several Reapers, large and small when they had not only fired at them but also decided to ram them with their reactors readied to overload on impact. The _Illinois_ , with its much more powerful shield, could shrug off such attacks from the smaller combatants easily enough. The assault carriers also had so many plasma repeaters firing and saturating space near them that no reaper dared come closer. However, the Defiants with their depleted shields had no option but to keep their distance from the battle while licking their wounds. Not that the outcome would be any different in the end.

The assault carriers had disgorged their considerable complement of SF-322 _Eagles_ \- the new and improved space superiority fighters - a few hundred F-302c _Vipers_ on their way for the planet's atmosphere, and two dozen of the larger corvettes. Those were the right fit to clean space of the pesky Reapers, especially when the smaller and faster ones were a concern. The _Eagles_ were also on a completely different level when fights in space were concerned compared to the older F-302s. A stronger shield and greater maneuverability in space battles were only a few advantages the craft had. The Wraith storage system allowed the craft to simply beam missiles into existence from a much larger reserve directly beneath the craft the moment it fired. This way scores of seeker missiles were fired at the smallest of the Reapers, quickly saturating space with around a thousand of them. That was enough for the Reapers to be overwhelmed quickly and with no way of survival. The Corvettes were adding mayhem, mostly by firing Ancient drones, flying and seeking targets of opportunity, but also with the use of their quite powerful energy armament in the form of two frontal pulse cannons and a dual plasma turret on the top of the ship, all the while protected by a much stronger shielding system than that of fighters. All in all, the situation was being cleared and once no more intact hostiles were anywhere near the planet and their shields were restored, they would go after the fleeing Hunters and end them before they could reach the hyper limit.

Currently floating at a safe distance from the battle, now it was the right time for the crew to disconnect from the neural net, the part Mitchell really wasn't looking forward. Giving the order, one by one the members of the crew began disengaging, with him being the last to log out. He felt sick, his vision was blurry and there was a general sense of wrongness as if this wasn't the way the world should feel like. It was the dissonant effect felt by all after having spent time immersed inside the neural net. Even with various drugs that supposedly should help having automatically been injected into his bloodstream while still inside the cocoon, he still felt like crap. And it would feel like that for at least ten more minutes, there was no way around it. He was trying to keep his eyes open while focusing on something on the bridge. It was better if he hadn't since the thing he had focused on was his tactical officer in the process of demonstrating projectile vomiting of what had to have been a very copious lunch.

From the amount, there might be breakfast parts too somewhere in there.

Minutes trickled by, his senses of the wrongness of the world that surrounded him slowly diminishing and everything returning to the normal, the usual, and the boring. It was this the reason why the immersion system wasn't widespread on all ships and only used on the Defiants. The Defiant ship class had most to benefit from it because it allowed for unprecedented maneuverability and the crew was a small one. Nobody wanted to see a good chunk of a six hundred people large crew aboard the newest battlecruiser vomiting in unison. There was also the problem of the crew being out of commission after disengaging from the system for about ten to fifteen minutes. The ship was on autopilot, set to evade any possible hostiles, and he wasn't sure if he or anyone else on the bridge could do much if suddenly an enemy appeared near them. Thankfully the Nox' subspace interdiction system precluded such possibility, but in open space, the situation would have been different. And there was a time limit of one hour on how long a person could stay inside the neural net without incurring lasting neurological damage.

He was definitely feeling better. At least that was the case until a call from the Illinois came. He was still feeling sick, barely able to nod to the comm. officer to allow the connection. The main view screen changed, now showing the face of Thornton, the Captain of the _Illinois_.

"Captain Mitchell, I see you're still feeling the aftereffects of the immersion. I do not envy you."

"It is getting better with each minute that passes. Soon, I think the impulse to vomit my soul should cease, or at least I dearly hope so."

"Yes, I did try the system a few times before, as it is standard for all sailors to go through the torture during training. I must say, the day they decide to install it on all capital ships, it is also the day I'll seriously start thinking about a career change," Thornton said, probably in jest.

"Yes, to tell you the truth, that is one of the few reasons I look forward to the promotion to CSG (Captain Senior Grade) that comes with a ship that doesn't have the system installed on board," Mitchell said, then felt saddened. "It seems you were right, Captain. My idea of the Defiants reaching the enemy ahead of your ship caused the loss of the _Kiev_."

"Captain Mitchell, I agreed to follow your recommendation and although the loss of the Kiev is regrettable, I cannot but see several Hebridian ships that survived this engagement probably only because of what the Defiants have accomplished here today. Not to mention the time you borrowed the colonists on the ground. The Reapers had a window of barely ten minutes between the moments they'd entered the atmosphere and when the F-302s were already on top of them, and they were certainly fewer in number than what would have been the case if you weren't here to provide aid."

It felt like a kind of consolation that his actions weren't completely in vain. "What about the crew? Did they make it out in time?"

"They did, all except for one crewmember who regrettably died when a console blew. They did retrieve the body for burial, though. No other ship has sustained any fatalities. We saved the colony, Captain, and at a very low cost I might add."

They were on the winning side, yet the sad truth was that, in wars, there is no true winner. Both sides are the losing ones, as there has been no war to date in which a side didn't lose at least someone. Mitchell was a military career man and he knew the sad reality when wars are waged. He still felt guilt for the loss of the _Kiev_ , but he was certain it wasn't as much as the captain of the ship. He had ordered the _Kiev_ to push closer and to engage while the ship's shields were on a respirator. He would probably recriminate his decision for the rest of his life. On the other hand, his decision might have saved countless lives since the ships that were diverted to face the Kiev would otherwise have engaged some other ships or the smaller ones would have plunged into the atmosphere on their way to murder the colonists.

The fight was mostly over now. The _Illinois_ was already speeding toward one of the fleeing Hunter ships. The other two hostiles won't be able to escape either. The _Lima_ and his ship, the _Sao Paulo_ , would make sure of it. With their massive acceleration, they will be able to reach them before they could reach the hyper limit, even if they went after them one hour from now. For the rest, the assault carriers were providing as much relief as they could. The Reapers did reach the surface, after all. The destruction wasn't extensive and the death toll was minimal. Still, the colony did suffer and maybe that would be enough for the Hebridians to change their stand. Maybe their people will now demand proper protection since they are living in a hostile galaxy. Relying on others to defend them shouldn't be a permanent solution either. Especially since there were those planets out there that truly couldn't defend themselves. In contrast, the Hebridians had the ability to build enough warships to give pause to all but the strongest adversaries.

It would only cost money to do it.

* * *

"Aren't you finding this strange?" Peter asked.

"Many things I find strange. This one included," David answered.

There were not as many ships in the Galar system as he thought there should be and those that were here were mostly parked in geosynchronous orbit around Galar. Not that the Galarans had a big fleet, to begin with, but still, there were only three warships, two of which were mere frigates and one was a somewhat larger cruiser, which was close to pathetic. The rest was comprised of in-system small patrol ships, only slightly larger than their corvette and only capable of sublight speed. Even the presence of defensive satellites in orbit couldn't excuse such slacking when the defense of your home planet was in question, not in an unbelievably hostile galaxy such as the Milky Way was.

After having attained a certain speed, their ship had continued with its gliding through space from the hyper limit inward toward the planet Galar on inertia alone. He could understand that their profile was tiny and difficult to spot, also that without the emissions from their engine and with the reactor working at barely one percent - there wasn't much for the reactor to feed except for the life support system since they were currently flying ballistic - sensors could not easily pick them up. He understood all that. It was the reason why he let it slide after they had come out of hyperspace and began their in-system trek without receiving a proper challenge. However, not having received _any_ challenge until they began final breaking maneuvers was too sloppy in his educated opinion. They were fast approaching Galar's only moon, which was orbiting the planet at a distance of roughly 250,000 kilometers, and only now they had received a challenge by the only orbiting space station. They had succeeded in traveling one-point-two billion kilometers or the equivalent of 67 light-minutes without anyone noticing. With such defenses, the Vargas or any of its allies wouldn't need to bother coming anywhere near the planet. They could simply accelerate at a considerable fraction of the speed of light, and then dump some rocks on course for Galar while still far outside of the inner system. Peter was certain that the moment when the Galarans would notice that something was amiss, it would only be after the first rock struck their planet.

Probably bamboozled on how that could have happened.

By following the specified protocol to the letter, Peter sent the given authentication code. Although, after seeing how the Galarans were defending their planet, there was a good chance that even if he didn't send the message, they could still have landed on their planet before their brave defenders would have reacted. "I'm receiving a flight path to the landing coordinates and… a speed limit."

"The speed of light is the only speed limit I will ever acknowledge," David said, not averting his gaze from his console or changing his expression in any way.

There were times when Peter really didn't know what David was blabbing about, and this was one of those times. Could be a consequence of what he went through with the Colonials, he did not know. "What the frak? Hey, do you want to hear another funny bit?"

"Always," David replied, now clearly intrigued.

"We are not landing on some remote location. We are landing at Hangar 27 at their main spaceport. And the spaceport is part of a city of around seven million people," Peter explained.

"Frak indeed. Maybe we are going to do some sightseeing. The client might fancy showing us his marvelous planet."

"Hope not!" Peter said, then looking down. "Don't have the right clothes anyway."

David looked at his space cowboy clothes too and smiled. "Could always say we're cosplaying."

"We are not visiting comic-con."

"Sadly no, we are not," David replied. "Though, these Galarans mightily look like real comedians to me right now."

"No arguments there." Peters hoped their first impression would change once they got in contact with whoever they were supposed to meet. Some professionalism was expected, even among unscrupulous criminals. "Let's hope the meeting ends well… and fast."

There was no indication that any of the warships or patrols were vectoring on them. The Corvette passed the moon while decelerating at a steady twenty gees in order to bleed off the still remaining surplus velocity. After all, they needed to adhere to the imposed speed limit by the station. The flight plan had taken the nimble ship into the planet's atmosphere on a slightly curved path in order to arrive at the spaceport at a specific angle, a path that wouldn't interfere with other traffic in a very busy world. The instructions were also clear enough for them to understand exactly where Hangar 27 was located. The instructions specified that, once the hangar was reached, they were to enter inside. It was probably to hide the ship as soon as they were landed.

Following the given instructions, the Corvette reached the specified hangar at a leisured pace. Hovering only for a moment in order to orient itself at a right angle with the hangar's doors, it slowly inched forward until completely passing through. They were in and the doors were already closing behind them.

The procedure they followed next was almost the same as the one with Lars. They took the usual equipment from the hidden compartment, except that this time David had taken a mimicking device too, which he promptly activated in order to conceal his true identity in the remote possibility of meeting someone on the planet who knew him. This time it was Peter who took the lead. It was better for the more talkative one of the two to initiate first contact. Stepping outside, he noticed three individuals waiting. He stepped in front of the closest of the three, hoping he was the one in charge.

"Hello, I'm Homer," he said while proffering his right hand. The man took it, squeezing it hard. His feeble attempt at impressing him how tough he was failed miserably. Homer shrugged slightly, thinking that maybe this guy isn't the one they should be meeting, before turning to introduce his partner. "And this is Mr. Barns, my partner."

The man shook hands with Barns too, which caused Barns' left eyebrow to skyrocket. He must have squeezed his hand hard too. Barns definitely looked amused. "My colleague and I have been instructed to wait for you here and then to bring you to the designated meeting place. Unfortunately, your clothes are not appropriate to be walking on our planet. We have prepared several suits you can choose from before we leave the hangar."

"Why isn't the meeting taking place here?" Homer asked. On one hand, he was happy this man wasn't their intended contact, but rather just the chauffeur. On the other hand, he didn't like the complication of traveling to a secondary location, in his opinion, for no good reason whatsoever.

"I'm not privy to such information. I was only tasked to provide you with the necessary transportation."

As far as explanations go, this one was as good as any. Of course, this in no way meant the man didn't know the reason why things had to get more complicated. Actually, Peter thought the man knew very well why they weren't going to conclude this deal inside the hangar, as they should be. They could be done in half an hour, easy, and on their merry way with everybody happy and smiling for a job well done. Instead, this was causing him some unnecessary confusion. Maybe even some unwarranted apprehension.

He hated feeling confused. It always meant something was askew.

On the other hand, the man seemed adamant on how the negotiations were to proceed. There was no point in arguing, not at this stage anyway. "Fine, let's take a look at the suits you prepared for us."

They were already moving to a side of the hangar where a rack with many suits of different types and sizes was waiting for them. "Also, you will have to leave your guns here. No weapons are allowed where we are going."

"You mean, _we -_ as in the two of us _-_ are not allowed to have weapons where we are going. I don't suppose you're going to drop yours here too," Peter said. He had noticed that all three people had guns beneath their jackets.

"That is correct," the man said. His voice wasn't hostile. It sounded more irritated than anything. As if asking the unspoken question - _Why were these barbarians asking so many questions instead of simply following instructions?_ "Is there a problem?"

Peter looked the man straight in the eyes, smiling mildly while wondering where he left his favorite pain stick. Time was trickling by, with no one saying anything. "Let's go with _'no'_ for now."

The man put a content smile, sign that he got the wrong impression. He must be thinking that he had caved in and that from now on everything would go smoothly and in their favor. He too wanted this disastrous first contact to start going smoothly. Definitely better than it had until now, with no fault of their own, but he was also ready to send all three of the people in the hangar to meet their maker on the first whiff of something awry being afoot. Peter took a deep, slow breath before motioning for David to follow him. They went to pick up their change of clothes. Most suits were black and seemed like slight variations of the same crap. Some were probably identical except for their different sizes. Since David had already spent some time on the planet, he let him pick up what they were going to wear. He knew the local tastes better than he did, or at least he hoped he did. However, no matter what suits David would pick, he understood that they were going somewhere where there was some kind of fancy reception of sorts.

The only reason to wear such expensive suits in any case.

The changing back inside their ship took a little over ten minutes. The guns and belts were now gone, as well as their cowboy look they began to be so fond of. Exiting the ship, Peter turned back and by tapping at his armband the doors closed and a forcefield surrounding the entire ship sprang to life. To his surprise, the same rude man who, if he thought about it a little more, hadn't even introduced himself properly walked briskly in front of him.

"What is that?" the man asked, rudely.

Peter wanted to insult him on the spot for asking stupid questions, but he wanted to leave the planet with the deal concluded even more so. He thought that in order to achieve the second objective, he needed to keep the situation calm and amicable. However, the man was treading on dangerous territory. "My data unit and the connection to our ship. Why?"

"You can't take those either," the man said.

Peter wasn't sure how to respond. The next thing would probably be to ask them to leave their underwear here too. "Let me explain something and see if you understand where we are at right now. You know the feeling when you're getting more and more frustrated as if some pressure is building up deep inside your chest and moving up towards your head. And then, there's that little voice you are hearing in your head becoming louder and louder, telling you that this isn't worth it. Well, that's how I feel right about now.

"So, I think I should lay to you all the options you have on how we are going to proceed further. First option, we continue with this, whatever this is, where you take us to some other place for reasons unknown, the exact way we are now - us, clothes, and data pads altogether included in the package.

"Second option, your boss deign us with his presence _here,_ as it should have been the case from the very start. Frankly, by the time it took us to change our clothes, we could have already been done and ready to go back with a deal made, signed and notarized.

"Third option, I open the ship, my partner and I go inside, and we leave the planet right now. I have other deals to make in a very vast galaxy in dire need of brokers like the two of us," Peter explained, waiting for a moment before concluding his little spiel. "So, it is up to you now to decide. What is it going to be?"

The man smiled. Peter knew that smile well. That smile talked about feeling superior. Unfounded, as it might be. "You think you can dictate terms. How about I take that device you carry by force instead?"

He gave an almost imperceptible glance at David and he knew his partner understood. He was already moving toward the other two people in the room like a cat.

A big cat.

Peter was fast too, almost as fast as David had been. The few steps it took to come at arm's length with the insolent man standing right in front of him were crossed while the man's eyes blinked, literally, as he had timed it that way. The moment the man's eyes were open again was also the moment when a punch landed straight at his throat. His hands protectively went to it, while Peter was already taking out the man's gun, cocking it, and pointing it at his head.

That much for superiority.

He turned and saw that one of the other two grunts was on the floor unconscious and the other was kept at gunpoint, he too clenching his stomach clearly in pain.

' _Did Genesis give David super-speed?'_ he thought, already knowing it didn't, yet unsure on how else to explain what exactly happened to the other two grunts.

They both moved quickly, patting all three of the people and taking any weapon found. Then, he opened the ship and tersely tossed the weapons inside. They wouldn't need those anymore. With one of them unconscious, and the other very worried about David who was standing at arm's length from him and ready to pound him at the first sight of movement, Peter finally had the time to talk to the very rude person he had to deal thus far. "You know, you haven't even told me your name. I think that's rude, don't you? Or maybe you think that we barbarians who do not come from a civilized world like yourself do not deserve any courtesy from you. Is that it? Yeah, that's probably it. I also think that this first meeting isn't going so great, wouldn't you agree? But, I think that we can still salvage it. Let me ask you again. What option do you prefer? One, two, or three?"

The voyage with the limo was quiet. After choosing option number one, the man said nothing else for the entire duration of the trip. He simply sat in the driver's seat and drove for the thirty or so minutes it was taking them to reach their destination in order to fulfill his duty. It was apparent that wherever that was, it was in the middle of the city. By looking through the window, he could almost imagine they were inside some metropolitan area on Earth. There wasn't all that big of a difference in technology from the two planets. Maybe in time Earth would change more since it was receiving knowledge from the Terran Federation to slowly uplift it without causing some major economic and other societal adversities a too sudden technological jump could easily cause, but for now, they were still very similar. Even architectural ideas – seen in a few places where the architect had the liberty to express himself without restrictions of any kind – clearly didn't differ all that much.

After all, they were all humans originally from Earth, right?

The car turned and went into an underground parking structure. It made three full circles, with each reaching a lower level, before reaching their destination. The limo parked in a place clearly meant for cars bigger than the average. Maybe it was even a private parking lot, he couldn't know. David was first to exit, shortly followed by Peter. The grunt with the bruised larynx walked them to the elevator, promptly pushing the button that called it down. It didn't take long before they were traveling up to what was probably a penthouse apartment. It seemed that way since it took a specific card to access it.

The doors opened inside a small lobby. Even before they crossed it, he could hear some soft music coming from behind the doors on the other end. As they entered, the music was now louder and there were people present, a lot of them. He quickly understood that it was some kind of fancy gathering. This was going better and better. If whatever asshole was holding this party hadn't come to conclude their deal because he had a party he needed to attend to, he was going to lose it.

The grunt led the way through the living room full of people and into what appeared to be a study room. In any case, there was no one inside at the moment, which could mean they had finally reached their intended destination. Confirmation came shortly after.

"Wait here," the man said with a raspy voice.

"Sure, and put some ice on it. In a few days, your voice should return to normal," Peter replied. There was no point in being rude to the guy now. The glare he received in return didn't inspire anything positive, though. They were probably never going to become friends.

They both sat in the two armchairs in front of a decent desk, yet not excessively large or too lavish. They glanced at each other without saying anything. They were in enemy territory and they should assume that whatever they said would be recorded and possibly analyzed later. There was also not much to talk about, not until they met the real client, at which point this entire mission could go in many ways. No doubt the rude man would explain his side of the story that not necessarily coincided with reality. The client could be a petty and vindictive man who valued more how his people were treated than making a lucrative deal, which would be bad for them. It was funny to think that he would like the guy more if he was a petty and vindictive man than one who let the insult they'd given him and his men slide just to conclude a deal and make a buck out if it. On the other hand, the non-vindictive option was better since it meant no one was coming inside the room guns blazing.

He turned to look at David. He wanted to know what the man was thinking. However, his blissful expression looking at some nondescript point in front of him didn't give any insight into his state of mind, much less exact thoughts the man might have at the moment. If he were a telepath able to pry in his partner's mind, he thought he would probably be hearing the ocean waves smashing on a sandy beach, with the sound of seagulls' croaks coming from above on an otherwise very tranquil and serene day. He imagined David going in some kind of Nirvana state, until the moment when he was once again needed, at which point he would snap out of it. It did, though - _at times_ \- make him think that he was working alone.

The doors opened and then closed without the two of them looking back at who had entered. The man walked past David and sat behind his desk. No one was speaking. The man was looking at them, they were looking back at him – well, maybe David didn't look exactly at him, you simply never knew – still, with nobody saying anything. Then, the man inhaled deeply.

"I've heard you had some problems," the man spoke.

Peter wasn't certain if what he'd just heard was a question he needed to answer or not. The fact that the man wasn't speaking anymore should suggest that he was waiting for a reply. "I wouldn't go so far as to call it a problem. More in terms of a slight difference in opinions."

It took a while for an answer to come. "I thought you'd want to give me your side of the story?"

"Not particularly, no. Especially if we can continue our dealings with no lasting damage having been done by this unfortunate… _misunderstanding_. In short, I'm good on my end. How's on yours?"

Again, the man took his time to answer. "Agreed. The best thing is to put this incident aside and continue as if nothing happened."

"Fine with me," Peter replied. However, he didn't particularly like something about their host. He couldn't put his fingers on what that something might be, not yet, but he knew he felt unnerved by him for some reason.

"Let's begin by first seeing if all our needs can be met," the man said giving him a pad he took out of the desk. "Here is a list of what I need for your first delivery."

The man was suddenly all business like. If he were like that and came to the spaceport, they could already be past the moon and on their way for the hyper limit. Peter looked down at the data displayed on the pad. It was written in _Standard_. It was the name the Terrans had given to the language used in the Milky Way galaxy the Goa'uld had created for their slaves who, on purpose, weren't taught to speak or write in Goa'uld. Unlike the Tollans, who had their own language and writings, the Galarans were using _Standard_ since they too were once under the Goa'uld oppression.

On the pad, he could see the list of various type of slaves the Galarans were asking for. The more he looked at the document, the more his confusion grew. "The minimum number is five hundred. Lars doesn't deal in smaller quantities. Not even for a first timer."

Again, the man waited for almost half a minute before replying. "I can easily increase the quantity. That is not a problem."

"Why such a colorful list?" Peter asked. "There are requests for slaves meant as hard workers usually meant for the mines, there are slaves meant as servants, and there are sex slaves with some very specific character traits. Character traits that would have to be designed and imprinted for each individual."

"I think that our reasons for wanting them as such are inconsequential. Am I wrong?"

"Not in general terms, no. There is, however, the additional fee for, let's called them, customized slaves," Peters explained. It was common for clients to ask for a slave or two with a specific imprint. That was especially common with sex slaves. "However, there's a much higher price tag for any custom imprinting. I see many such high price imprints in this order that will raise the price considerably."

"We are prepared to pay any additional cost for, as you called them, customized slaves," The man replied.

It was strange, but he could conclusively sense contempt in the man's voice. It was faint, but it was there nonetheless, which begged the question. Why would a man who was about to buy five hundred slaves feel contempt while talking about their sale? Again, that feeling in the back of his mind that something wasn't right was coming back, and it was doing it with a vengeance. The confusion that was telling him to think of what the source of it could be, or otherwise there might be some nasty surprises later down the road. "If you're prepared to pay, then I have no reason to object."

The man again waited, glancing from him to David, and then back. The slight feeling of being under the microscope was starting to creep in. "There is one more thing."

"If it is a lucrative _thing_ , I'm ready to listen," Peter said, thinking to lessen the tension in the room, or whatever this feeling he was having right now to make it go away. He wasn't succeeding, though.

"In the long run, the constant need to ask for specific imprints on slaves that are thousands of light-years away could cause unreasonable delays. We would like for this operation to grow as much as possible. For that to happen, we would need to be able to perform imprinting quickly when such a demand is asked of us by our clients, without delays that could stretch for months even," the man explained.

And here was the real reason why they were here, the reason why Galar was discussing the sale of slaves, and why Peter was feeling so confused. The Galarans weren't after the slaves. They were after the technology that manipulated people's minds. A technology capable of warping people's mind and turn them into mere puppets for their new puppet masters. It wasn't even that strange when he thought about it that Galar wanted it. They already had the technology to manipulate someone's memories. With the addition of a brainwashing technique, they could force anyone to do anything they wanted them to.

The reason why he felt uneasy in front of this man had now been revealed. The way the man waited before answering and the constant scrutiny. He was the same as they were. He was a trained intelligence officer and not a simple thug who had suddenly decided that acquiring slaves from off-world could be a lucrative business. They had known from the very beginning that there's no real gain in importing slaves from off-world and that the overcast caused by transportation alone would make it unprofitable. The guy must dislike even talking about the slave trade, just as they did. The man had even shown his contempt when he'd spoken about customizable slaves.

He quickly gave a glance at his partner in crime. David seemed unfazed, but he thought his partner too had understood with whom they were dealing. The situation was tricky. If he had been wary of the man standing in front of him, the man had probably been wary of them too. It was the probable reason why it took him so long to answer to simple questions. Their reactions were telling him they were not the usual thugs. They needed to somehow finish this meeting and skedaddle from this planet ASAP.

"What you're asking is not among the sellable items. That should not surprise you either since selling trade secrets is never a good idea, wouldn't you agree?" He explained, thinking that agreeing with the man's demands was the wrong way to go.

Again, the man was taking his time to respond, maybe even more than before. "That is regrettable. My operation needs to be flexible. Demands from potential clients need to be addressed in the shortest possible time. Waiting for delivery of new merchandise weeks or possibly months is not an option. However, I do realize the reluctance of your employer in disclosing his most important trade secrets. Once out, there's little reason for us to deal with him anymore."

"Your understanding of the problem confuses me further. You know Lars wouldn't give his brainwashing technology as it would be counterproductive, yet you still ask for it. I don't understand."

"That is because thus far you've been dealing with small clients that can buy maybe a few thousand slaves each month. I have the kind of resources at my disposal that could send all of you into early retirement. To make it simple, we are able to buy Lars out. In full."

Now things were truly on the table. The whole talk with the list of slaves was probably just to probe things out. Maybe this man simply wanted to know the number of slaves that can be brainwashed. The more he thought about it, the more he was convinced that the reason why the list contained so many slaves that would need custom imprint was another test to prod into Lars' business and maybe understand how long it took for an imprint. "Buying Lars out, huh. Not sure how that will play out. I mean, I can pass the message along and it is said that every man has his price. However, I don't think Lars is planning on retiring anytime soon."

The man was again taking his time to think. "While we are discussing matters up here, my people are already loading the twenty percent advance payable in weapons-grade Naquadah. We would still like to proceed with the procurement of the initial five hundred slaves as asked. Furthermore, we are not against Lars continuing with business as usual. We are interested in Lars' technology to be used on our world alone. His business would stay his. In addition to the delivery of the slaves and payment of the rest, I would like for your employer to write down the amount it would take to sell us the technology, an amount that would fully satisfy him. As I said, he should consider that I have abundant resources at my disposal."

Of course, the man had the resources of an entire highly industrialized planet behind him. He could easily provide Lars with tons of weapons-grade Naquadah if need be or even construction of ships or other components Lars might ask for. This situation was bad. They needed to do whatever possible to make this deal fail. Both the Galarans having brainwashing technology at their disposal and Lars having received such a large payment in the form of various goods, could be very bad for the entire sector. "We will pass along the message. It is true that Lars said that he wanted for this deal to proceed. On our part, we look forward to successfully completing this transaction."

"Oh, and why is that?" the man asked.

"Because we work on commission," Peter said. "Lars chance of retiring means a chance for the two of us coming closer to retiring as well. Mind me, not that we have any plans on retiring anytime soon."

The man was looking at them again. "Does that mean the two of you are not exclusively employed by Lars?"

"We are independent brokers and occasionally we double as transporters for small valuables across the sector. We guarantee delivery of goods or, like in Lars' case, of payment. For a fee, of course, usually between seven and ten percent depending on the distance and predicted risk."

"Maybe it was that what was bothering me about the two of you," the man said.

"Bothered by us? Why?" Peter asked innocently.

"Because you are not what I was expecting from a slave dealer like Lars. At one point, I almost got the faint feeling that you abhor the sale of slaves," the man said. "You being independent instead of directly connected to the slave trade might explain it."

As predicted, the man had been looking at them closely and he had made some good observation. In the same way, he had done about him. Now the question was how to answer. This could simply be another test. It was never easy to deal with another spy. "My partner and I are pragmatic persons who live in a galaxy that does not care about us. We have found a line of work we are good at and we will do the best we can. Nonetheless, you are right in your assumption. We do not like working in this particular line of work. Something the two of us do not like to advertise to everybody. Not sure how our employer would react if he knew how much we dislike being part of the sale of slaves."

"And therefore, how much you dislike your employer," the man concluded.

"Again, not something we like to tell others, but yes, in the same way, we, as you've already said, don't particularly like the slave trade. Hence, we cannot be particularly fond of our employer either, can we?" This man now had a chip that he could cash in whenever he wanted. He knew something about the two of them that Lars shouldn't find out. Based on Lars's character, there was no way of knowing how he would react to the information of his two most trusted brokers thinking badly of him and of his lucrative yet despicable business. Maybe he would do nothing or maybe they would get a bullet next time they met. On the other hand, this was exactly what Peter wanted. With this chip in the man's hand, he had just loosened up. He no longer suspected them or at least not as much as he did before. Maybe he even began liking them more since he as well wasn't too fond to be dealing in slaves.

The man got on his feet. It was clear this meeting was coming to an end, Peter could sense it. "Gentlemen, it has been a pleasure meeting you and I hope that the next time we meet you'll be bringing good tidings."

Peter got on his feet as well, grabbing the man's already offered hand. "My hope as well. We will try to do our best to convince Lars to take the offered deal."

The drive back to the hangar had been uneventful. Once there, there were no thugs waiting, just their landed corvette. They waved a quick goodbye to the driver before going inside their craft with the received case full of weapons-grade Naquadah. Powering the ship and lifting off took only a minute more. They were now exiting the hangar, ready to take the ship to the sky. They had spent enough time on Galar anyway.

In that, both of them were in full accord.

"We got to convince Lars not to take the deal!" Peter said, now that they were finally alone. He had just finished scanning the content of the case full of Naquadah. They did inspect the merchandise before entering the craft, but there was always the possibility of some transponder having been added to it, hence some more thorough checking was in order. Thankfully, there was nothing unwarranted inside the briefcase.

"I agree, but how?" David asked while piloting.

"Not sure. Yet! We need to be careful. I would have never thought we would have to deal with someone who's in the same line of work as we are. That guy was checking every expression we were making," Peter said, a little pissed. It was mostly directed at himself. He knew something was wrong with this whole ordeal immediately after taking the job. He should have anticipated the possibility of the government of Galar being directly involved in this.

"He wasn't bad at it either. I'm still not sure if he bought the story you fabricated on the spot. You also gave the man a lot of information that they should not have. Still, better that than the man becoming even more guarded. If he thinks that we are independents who are not very fond of the business we are in, I'm fine with that. Don't think he'll use it against us with Lars, but can't be a hundred percent certain."

"Maybe we should play it safe and tell Lars before that guy does. After all, the only thing Lars cares about is not what we think of him or of his line of work, but that we are facilitating his job and making him money," Peter thought, at loud. There was still the problem that you never knew how a psycho the likes of Lars would react.

"Maybe. We can think about that for seven more days," David replied. "No need to decide right now."

"True," Peter conceded. "Let's go pick up whatever it is that Lars wants. I'm curious to see what it is."

* * *

 _ **Thanks for reading. Please leave a review if you have a question of simply you feel like it.**_


	14. Final Preparations

**Author's note:** Another long chapter is here for you to read. Unfortunately, my schedule is pretty hectic right now, so, I don't have much more already written and ready to be posted. I'm hoping to soon catch some free time to write a draft for the next batch of chapters. If not, regrettably, chapters will start coming out slower than they are now.

 **Q &A:**

 **Chronus1326:** Well, the sphere is on its way back. Not much to write about that. It will be mentioned soon and a few things will be explained, but not in great detail, I'm afraid. Not until the time for the sphere to truly shine comes. And, yes, it is true that larger the scope of the story, with many galaxies to write about, it becomes easy to skip on a few things. Larger the story, fewer details you write. For now, I'm focusing on giving a good picture of the current state of the MW galaxy through various angles. Soon, the Sphere and those who will go on the offensive will get more in focus, while the MW will take a back seat.

 **The silver Ebon Hawke:** the second book ends somewhere around the middle of the year 2011. The third book begins in 2014. As far as the intelligence report goes, well, some time ago I wrote quite a detailed one and then lost almost everything. The document got overwritten somehow with an older version, which royally ticked me off. I tried to write it again, however, haven't made much progress. Also, with the limited amount of time I have at my disposal, I prefer to write a new chapter for the story than devoting considerable time on the report.

 _ **Thanks to my beta, and hope you'll enjoy this chapter too**_

* * *

"I don't know, Sam. I don't think that's a good idea. I'm sorry," Jack said apologetically.

On the other hand, Sam looked angry, bordering to being pissed through the roof. "It was your idea, remember?"

"I know it was, but at the time I didn't think it would go the way it did."

"And in what way did you think it would go?"

"I'm not sure. I think I thought it would be… less than what it turned out to be. This is serious stuff. Not sure how to explain better."

"You're not explaining yourself at all."

"Look, I know the way our dreadnoughts were was bad. A single antiproton beam couldn't justify the construction of a two kilometers long behemoth and a tonnage far above its punching weight. But this - _Gah!_ \- I don't even know how to present this thing! It was better if it wasn't ready today, of all days. What would this ship's role even be?"

"Long range artillery-ship," Sam deadpanned. "Works for me!"

Jack sighed. The thing was ugly, there was no way around it, and he wasn't about to have it displayed in front of the various dignitaries the likes of the Nox or the Tollans. They would have a fit, without hesitation, thinking the Terrans had finally switched to the dark side. He wasn't sure how Thor would react and he knew the gray alien was more inclined to agree with his big-honking-space-gun philosophy than most. Actually, this could be the thing even he couldn't agree with.

Worse than that, since they had already built many dreadnoughts and only recently decided that now that the battlecruisers and heavy cruisers with their newly installed QDBs could harm the Vargas just fine, the dreadnoughts weren't that much more powerful as they should be for their larger size and increased complexity in being produced. That meant some rethinking was in order, a rethinking that would rather upgrade the existing ships instead of forcing them to design and then build completely new ones.

So, what the R&D _freaks_ had done was to, instead of one relativistic antiproton beam, put a tri-barrel in its place, which was ludicrous to even think about while talking about an almost two kilometers long antiparticle accelerator. They would have probably made an antiproton Gatling too, but, _thankfully_ , they had no clue on how to actually do it. A tri-barrel was now possible since the massive cannons didn't need to generate the antimatter on-the-fly as it was the case before. They now had the stuff coming out of the Clava Thessara Infinitas, thanks to Argos who had spent five million years generously making as much of it as the excess energy from the two stars would accumulate in the too small for comfort pocket universe. The tri-barrel could now fire one shot every 40 seconds instead of the previous three minutes. It wasn't much different than having three separate particle accelerators, though. They just shared some components in order to squeeze them all neatly one next to each other, hence saving on the already very limited amount of space - a hindrance always present aboard ships - which saved them from having to build a completely new type of vessel.

Such a change could have gone almost unnoticed as it was only a small cosmetic one – at least that was when observed from the outside - whilst the biggest differences were inside and hence hidden, but they were under strict orders to make the ship something much more than what it currently was. So, they decided that putting two on top, two starboard, and two port additional antimatter beam cannons of the smaller type, the same type that was being utilized by the defensive satellites, would be a great idea. Since the ship was now stacked with only guns that had a massive firing range, there was no point in putting other weapons with a considerably shorter one, right? So, they had removed everything else, then put inside the ship a massive Wraith storage system for as many long range missiles as possible and for drones with a special delivery system that looked like an ugly box with jumping capabilities or, if FTL wasn't available, a pulse gravitic engine capable of 10000 gees of brutal acceleration. Each system could deliver a thousand of the new hyper drones Mark III over vast distances where they could be spat out in droves through the ten available ports. The _nutjobs_ in the R &D had also decided that having hangar bays for what they were creating was a waste of time, space, and materials, so they removed those completely. The end result was a ship looking like a long and somewhat smoothed brick with some oversized weapons ungainly attached on all sides except below it.

"If you didn't look at it and instead simply went through the ship's specs, you'll begin to salivate copiously in very short order. A long range platform that can fire almost constantly from at least one of the many antiproton guns it has isn't something to be frowned upon," Sam said, almost pleading.

"I'm not against what the ship has become! I'm against showing it in public. Ever! Did some of the Alterrans see it?"

Sam didn't want to respond.

"Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"Who saw it?"

"I don't remember his name," Sam replied, clearly not wanting to elaborate any further.

"Do I know him? What does he do for a living? What color are his eyes? Give me something to work with here!"

"The guy's heading the Edenian Council."

"And?"

"And he thinks we are nuts, alright!" Sam replied. "Look, I know the thing is uglier than a mud fence, or uglier than the east end of a horse headed west, uglier than a lard bucket full of armpits even – I don't know, I'm trying to come up with ways to describe how ugly it is, but I'm falling short of expressing it properly and with enough fervor. Anyway, the thing is fucking ugly, and we will probably have to hide it from our allies – _and children_ \- if we don't want them to be afraid of us. But, Jack, that thing in enough numbers can end even larger battles with a clean victory from a range where the enemy can barely see us and only by employing some fancy sensors."

She was exaggerating, but she also had a point.

"I agree. Upon seeing how they look, the Vargas will simply give up," Jack deadpanned, then thought of something. "What can possibly power all these weapons?"

"Actually, that's not a problem. For one, the new pulse reactors are giving more power than ever before, and two, since the weapons don't need to generate the antimatter themselves before firing, they are a lot less energy intensive. It somehow all compensates in the end, and the ship can also charge a ZPM on its own, even a tad faster than before."

"I can't believe that I'm contemplating ordering all of our dreadnoughts to be modified in the same way," Jack said while scratching his head in frustration.

"You know that one of our current battlecruisers with its QDBs can kill a Vargas ship almost as easy as an unmodified dreadnought can. The additional range of a single antiparticle cannon simply doesn't excuse an almost tenfold increase in expenditure in building a dreadnought over a battlecruiser," Sam explained.

"I know, I know. It also fits in our overall naval doctrine. The Defiants are the fast attackers. Go in fast and hard while evading from being hit. The heavy cruisers have the highest offensive strength per tonnage while retaining superior maneuverability against all known Vargas ships. The battlecruisers are the most resilient, with well-balanced offensive and defensive capabilities. Supercarriers can transport the most in terms of smaller craft anywhere we need. And now the Dreadnoughts would take the role of the long-range gunboats, those that always fire first delivering a nasty initial punch, all ships small enough to pass through a supergate. With a few hundred dreadnoughts, each with seven antimatter beams strapped on their hull, relativistic or otherwise, a volley can put almost fifteen hundred shots in the first three minutes of a fight! Okay, ugly or not, we need to have them!" Jack said eagerly. Now that he had worked the math, he felt a lot more enthusiastic than he did a minute ago… and screw how ugly the thing was!

"Now we're talking!" Sam responded, happy they were moving along.

"Then we put the ship classified as top secret, level 9, with clear instructions that while it is in any of our systems, it must stay under cloak so that nobody can see it. Like, ever! It's not just dignitaries from other worlds. Our people shouldn't see something like that either. Children would have nightmares, that's for sure, and parents would have to answer some awkward questions."

"Complicating much?" Sam asked. "It's not _that_ ugly… right?"

He said nothing. Just glared at her.

"Okay, it is ugly… and intimidating… and something that only somebody completely insane would ever build. Okay, we are hiding it for as long as we can manage," Sam agreed.

"Up until the war is over and then we are putting them back in the Clavata Thessara Infinitas to never be taken out again! All of them!"

"Agreed," Sam said. "Which means that we are showing only the battlecruiser today, right?"

"Yes, we are," Jack said, but there was something still bothering him. "Remind me again why we are doing this? Didn't we say that we are going to limit our interaction with the locals in our galaxy? It seems to me that we are going back and forth on our decisions. This smells to me like Daniel's doing."

"We never said that we are going to shun all human races in the Milky Way galaxy. We are just not planning on making alliances or any kind of binding deals with them," Sam explained. "Talking is still fine."

"And what about the Tollans?"

"That's different. That's not an alliance request and they are in a different position than the rest," Sam asked.

"Maybe. It still came as a surprise when they asked," Jack contemplated. "And when the Langarans heard, they jumped on the Tollan-wagon in a heartbeat."

"We were contemplating adding the Tollans to our federation even before they asked, but we didn't want to be the ones to make the pitch. They are numbering in a little over ten thousand, but they are nonetheless still ahead of every other human race by a large margin. Once joined, they would still have their own planetary government, just like any other planet in our federation, yet they could benefit from selling their technology and services to the rest of the federation, making a very nice living out of it. Not to mention, them not having to worry about building their own defenses and navy" Sam explained, clearly very much liking the idea of the Tollans joining.

"The technology _is_ the problem. We can't allow them to sell things like those over-the-top generators that caused the destruction of not one, but two planets in their system of origin and the extinction of the idiots who abused them. I'm not placing one of those things on Earth or any of our colonies," Jack said, with resolve. With the Fusion reactors Earth now had, they were able to produce 1.7 times the entire planetary energy needs, and even if Murphy put his paw and the worst came to pass, the only thing that could happen was a reactor meltdown. Not even radiation to worry about, as fusion was much cleaner that way than nuclear fission could ever be.

"Of course not. We limit what they can sell to other planets."

"If they go for it."

"If they don't, we don't approve their entry into our society. However, in this whole talk about the Tollans, you're actually forgetting that we are talking about the _Tollans_. Are you truly worried that _they_ will sell technology that can go boom on other planets in our federation? They will probably celebrate when we tell them that we don't want them to share any technology that can be dangerous."

"True enough. If the role were reversed, it would be a different story. I'm actually worried about the wrong people here. Still, what about the request the Langarans made? They are not at the level of the Tollans. I'm also not sure how we are going to incorporate them. That is _if_ we decide to do it."

"Easy. Actually, the sooner the better."

"Easy?" Jack asked. "How? And why the sooner the better?"

"We solved the problem of incorporating new worlds when we almost started treating Earth like a new one. We decided to give Earth a package with the necessary knowledge to further develop on their own, and then we left the planet to deal with it on its own. We do the same with the Langarans with the same package as well as to give them the federal rulebook they must abide by. The rest is up to them."

"You make it sound so easy. What about _Genesis_?" In his opinion, there were so many problems in incorporating other races into the Terran Federation that it wasn't even funny. One of them was that the Terran Federation was a new entity, only three years old, and it didn't need complications at such an early juncture.

" _Genesis_ is the reason why the Tollans asked us to join in the first place. Only now they feel that we're their peers and worthy of joining. Both the Tollans and Langarans have diverged considerably in their evolution so _Genesis_ wouldn't even work on them. Which is a good thing, too."

"Why is it a good thing?"

"Genetic diversity. By joining, the Terran Federation will have a much larger genetic pool, and that's a good thing. It allows for possible evolutionary paths not even Liam has contemplated at being possible."

"I get that, but don't you think that the Langarans will resent our lifespan of 250-300 years?" Jack knew they would.

"Some will, some won't. That's part of life. Besides, most of it can be mitigated by spreading readily available medicine. Even people on Earth who decided not to go through _Genesis_ will soon have their lifespan doubled. We just need to make sure the serum we retrieved from the Aschen database doesn't contain the sterility component anymore."

"Why not use the serum the Aschen used themselves?"

"Jack, the serum they used _is_ the same as the one they gave to other planets," Sam explained.

"What? How? Why? Wait! Why didn't I know about this?" Jack said, feeling somewhat confused at the moment.

"You must have got a memo about it quite some time ago – a year ago maybe. We also discovered three months ago that we can modify it to remove that particular feature of the drug. We then started thinking about introducing it on Earth for those who weren't going through _Genesis_ or those that wouldn't get the treatment in time before reaching sixty-five. You should have got that memo too."

"Damn memos!" Jack spat the words with apparent distaste. If he knew about this, his last talk with Hayes would probably have gone differently. At least Daniel had the excuse that he didn't know about the progress they'd clearly made in recent months because the last three months he had spent being chased by monsters. He didn't have that excuse up his sleeve. "Still, memo or no memo, how did the Aschen use the same serum? Are they immune?"

"Not even close," Sam responded with a wicked smile.

"Oh, I am so not gonna like this, am I?"

"Probably not. Anyway, what we learned is that using the serum before turning thirty doesn't make any difference, not on a person's overall longevity anyway. So, what the Aschen did was to simply have children before turning thirty, after which they would take the serum, or otherwise live their entire lives without having any children. It was probably a way to limit their growth rate. Actually, some think that's exactly how they came to make the serum in the first place. It wasn't envisioned as a weapon, not at first. It became one when they met the Volians and decided to give them the same Serum. They only forgot to mention to have lots of children beforehand."

"It makes sense. For unemotional, amoral sociopaths, it fits perfectly," Jack finally understood. "If we are able to, let's say, _refine_ their serum that means the Langarans should have their lifespan doubled, right? A hundred and fifty, give or take, is not the same as two hundred and fifty or three hundred, but it isn't that far off either."

"And the Tollans have their own medicine and technology. Did you know that Travell was ninety-one when we first met her?"

"Really? Would have placed her in her sixties at the most," Jack replied. The Tollans were different, he knew that. Analyzed remains found on Tollana told a peculiar tale about the Tollans that even they did not know. It seems the Tollans share many genes with the late Lanteans. It was postulated that the Tollans are descendants of the by now defunct Lanteans who had returned to Earth and had decided to live a simple life with the local populous, wherever they had decided to place roots. Further investigation showed how they must have inhabited a small region in today's southern Italy. They eventually died and their descendants were taken by some Goa'uld to another planet, after which, somehow, they freed themselves or maybe were abandoned by the Goa'uld after the Naquadah mines dried out. The way the Tollans had retained their cultural heritage and language, it is probable that they had spent very little time under Goa'uld dominion.

"They would probably benefit from the Aschen serum too, though," Sam added.

"So, I gather they are all ending up benefitting from joining the Terran Federation, but what is the Federation profiting in return? In addition to genetic diversity, I mean," Jack asked.

"In the short term, mostly we on a federal level benefit from the Tollans. Their scientists employed directly by the Federation could work on theories that frankly we still have trouble coming to grasps with. It is one thing learning about it from a database like the one in Atlantis, it's another to have someone who has learned that stuff since childhood explains it to you. In some ways, the Tollans are more advanced than even the Edenians or at least that was until the whole conversion into Alterra started. Now, as Alterrans, they can simply download knowledge from the Repository. The Langarans are also very smart people. Even after _Genesis_ , the likes of Jonas Quinn are still a rarity on Earth. And the Langarans have many that are in his or in a similar league."

Jack knew that. Genesis didn't turn Earth into a bunch of brainiacs. The process mostly worked on changing their bodies to be more able to survive in harsher environments, a greater degree of adaptability, and increased longevity. There was a component that augmented their cognitive abilities, but it wasn't something that turned everybody into the likes of Einstein overnight. After all, as Liam had explained, _Genesis_ was selectively evolving Terrans to an equivalent of a few hundred thousand years down the line. That wasn't such a big leap. The Alterra were a thriving civilization even twenty million years ago, which meant the Terrans still had ways to go. "So, to you, it makes sense to incorporate these two worlds into the Terran Federation?"

"It does. Mind you, it shouldn't be done overnight. We should first add the Tollans during a yearlong trial period, and that only because there's so few of them. The process should be more cautious and lasting longer for the Langarans. What does Daniel think?"

"He's all excited about the premise," Jack said, rolling his eyes. It was incredible the thing that made Daniel completely forget about the crap he went through in the months spent on Quiril. "I think he and Narim have all but shaken hands by now, which would make our discussion irrelevant in the extreme. We were talking about ships anyway."

"And we will continue doing so, but for now we need to go," Sam said as she noticed what time it was.

"Oh crap! Is it already that late?"

"It is," Sam explained, both moving out of Jack's office and on their way to the large hall where the presentation was about to take place.

Making long strides, the two made their way in record time, with the only reason why they didn't move faster because none of them wanted to enter the room winded and covered in sweat. After allowing Sam to enter first, already fast on her way toward the podium, he quietly followed inside where, he predicted, all or most of the dignitaries were already present and waiting. He immediately noticed Teal'c and Bra'tac. It was very difficult for him not to spot the two stoic Jaffa standing out in a crowd that was predominately comprised of humans. Maybe they didn't stick out as much as the Asgard and Nox did while standing in one corner but easily spotted nonetheless. He also noted that the third Jaffa that had been invited to participate, Zo'tan, wasn't there. Jack met the guy only once and all he knew about the guy was that he belonged to the conservative faction inside the JFN. The one led by Bre'lac. Teal'c informed him that it was highly improbable the man would attend because he vehemently believed today's event was one of those boasting occasions the Terrans did from time to time in order to show others their superior technology. He had it half right. The idea of the event _was_ indeed to show other races their superior technology, but the reason behind it was to assure them and show them how the Terrans had finally developed the means to fight the Vargas so that they could sleep easier. It was to let them know that the days of the Vargas and their minions usurping their galaxy were coming to an abrupt end.

He didn't know everybody present, for that he would need Daniel. Or, as providence smiled upon him, he would have to ask another person that was approaching him and who probably knew every dignitary in the room.

He probably knew what type of underwear they were wearing and how often they changed them too.

"Klaus," Jack greeted the man simply.

"Jack," Klaus responded while standing beside him and discreetly scrutinizing the crowd.

"Okay, let's start with the fifty cent tour of the room," Jack asked. "Not sure who's who here."

"Antaeus of the Nox, Freyr of the Asgard, Narim of the Tollans, Jonas Quinn of the Langarans…"

"Stop making fun of me. You know I know them. Tell me about the less known characters in this story," Jack ordered, slightly irritated. Everybody knows Narim. No need to point him out.

"You see next to Jonas, on his right," Klaus said while looking in that direction. "That's Olim, an Optrican. The disgruntled looking one standing next to him is a Bedrosian named Voss. Try not to talk to him, he'll ruin your day with talks of Optrican oppression."

"What Optrican oppression?" Jack asked. As much as he knew, the Optricans were incredibly friendly and, more than anything, very patient with the Bedrosians.

"Mostly with talks about freedom of religion," Klaus explained.

"Freedom of religion? They believe in Nefertem being the creator of all humanity for crying out loud!"

"Since when did believing in false gods stop anyone. Actually, since I'm an atheist I could argue that everybody on Earth is equally deluded on the subject."

"Let's move on," Jack said, making it clear it was time to change the subject. "Who's next?"

"I think that's Ren from Orban," Klaus said, again looking at a certain person in the room so that Jack could know who he was referring to.

"You don't seem all that informed about the Orbanian guy," Jack said, narrowing his eyes. With Klaus, knowing why he did or didn't do something was very important.

"Not very interested in the Orbanians," Klaus said, looking deflated. "They are such plain people with no interest in subterfuge, backstabbing, playing the long game or whatever else I find interesting. If every race in the galaxy was like them, I would be out of a job."

"Give them time and they'll catch up with the rest of us."

"I hope so. If not, they are going to get hurt, and badly so," Klaus stated. "Anyway, next on the list, the Serrakin Obin. Tough guy to read. A little too much talk about the company he's working for and the market they want to corner, and very little about the survival stuff associated with the Vargas and their minions usurping our galaxy. Frankly, I'm not sure if the Hebridians understand the crap the Milky Way galaxy's in."

"Hey! They started to modify their ships and put weapons worthy of the name on them. They even have a few newly minted military ships to boast about. I say that's a massive change from their previously disinclined stand when it concerns anything military related," Jack said knowingly.

"I can concede on that point. However, at this point the guy thinking of cornering the market of galactic transportation of goods is a little too much on the optimistic side. I mean, with the Vargas capable of detecting a hyper-wake, what that Serakkin wants to do is frankly insane. He wants to build countless ships and send them toward all known worlds to deliver goods. If they don't get blown by the Vargas, then he will effectively bring the Vargas to any planet the whereabouts the Vargas still may not know. Terrific guy, right?"

Jack was taken aback. He would have to have a few words with the guy. "I think it's a racial failing."

"How do you mean?" Klaus asked.

"Think about it. Have you ever seen a Serrakin not smiling in the face of danger? And it isn't even that they relish danger like some adrenalin junkies. No. They smile because they simply don't realize the danger they are putting themselves and others in."

"Now that you mention it, they do seem to fail in grasping the gravity of the situation. No matter how many times and in how many ways we try to explain. Hell! They are probably beefing up their Navy more to make _us_ happy than because they understand how it is the thing they need to do if they want to survive," Klaus summarized.

"Now you get it," Jack said, giving a glance at the next dignitary in line. "Well, that's a guy you don't see every day. If it is a guy at all."

"Yes, the new addition to the galactic scene. The Gadmeer."

"Name?"

"No clue. Wait, I recorded it," Klaus asked taking a recording device out of his pocket. He played what to Jack seemed as some irritating screeching sound. Though, the Gadmeer did turn around as if called upon. "See. He gets it."

"How are people even conversing with the guy?"

"Mostly, they don't. Not even our universal translators had any success thus far. The Nox, though, are able to understand them and translate for the rest of us. They are being smug about it too, I can feel it. The Gadmeer are also able to understand us, which pisses me off royally because they could probably make a universal translator that works for them too but for some reason, they haven't done it thus far."

"Who's left? Oh yeah, those two," Jack asked pointing with his chin at the two remaining unknowns.

"The one on the left is from Quiril, named Bagros. Don't know much about him. Quiril is in such a chaos right now, so, not much intelligence collected there," Klaus explained.

"Yes, it seems that crap keeps piling up on their planet, doesn't it?" Jack stated.

"I saw the recording, and I must admit, not sure what to think of it," Klaus said.

Jack had thought that the appearance of an invisible enemy that used energy weapons was the culmination of the trouble the Army would have to deal with on Quiril. However, it seemed they had been a little too optimistic in their predictions when it came to the trouble on Quiril. Until a few days ago, it all seemed as predicted, with the Army slowly cleaning acre after acre on their fast trek towards the South. The opposition was sporadic and even in those few occurrences, it was minimal. Predictions were already speaking of a few more months before the planet was more than 95 percent clean of any type of infestation, Crab, Hunter or Reaper.

Then he received a video showing a squad on patrol getting ambushed and the only thing he could think about was - when did the Vargas get their hands on the movie _Alien_? Even before the deployment of the Army on Quiril, studies had been made on the Crabs they were fighting. The disgusting yet simplistic creatures had a DNA structure much more complex than they should be having. They were dumb, they were only a mint above being pure animals, and nobody would make the mistake of calling them sentient. So, why was it that tests were showing their DNA, in some ways, is even more complex than that of humans? Nobody knew, until a few days ago when they had to quickly revise some conclusions and theories.

On the video, the squad was moving through the prairie, at night, chit chatting about various unimportant things in an attempt to make an otherwise very boring patrol job more interesting. It was clear that this wasn't their first patrol duty and with the Cylons slightly ahead of their formation, always vigilant, they probably felt quite safe. The Cylons sensors were very good at detecting things, therefore, it came as a massive surprise when one of the soldiers was tackled by a fast moving shadow.

What followed… were screams.

Then, the camera turned and there it was. The beast on top of the unfortunate soldier. It was keeping him pinned down while spraying some kind of acid from its mouth that would have put the replicators' ability to dissolve things to shame. The combat armor was melting and the soldier's attempts to hit the thing was met with a large pincer that cleanly cut off the soldier's arm just below the elbow.

A short burst coming from somewhere out of the camera's field of vision on the left blew half of the head of the affronting - and at the time unknown – alien clean off, with the body collapsing next to the still screaming soldier. Between the loss of a hand and the acid still trickling through the armored suit, he had all the rights to scream. Unfortunately, this wasn't an assault by a lonely creature. There were more of them, as the video was now showing several jumping at other soldiers and Cylons, creating complete chaos in the ranks of the patrol. Not only were these things dangerous, not only there were more of them than there were soldiers in the squad, but the sensors on their suits or those used by the Cylons didn't pick a thing until they were smack on top of them.

He could still remember how badly it had ended, Jack thought while replaying the video again in his head. In this particular case, unfortunately, perfect recall worked against him. A side effect of him becoming an Alterran. When reinforcements came ten minutes later, there was no one alive to save. There were half a dozen of the creatures dead, as well as seven dead soldier, which wasn't all of them. They did not just kill their people. When they'd left, they'd taken their bodies with them, most certainly to use for food or as incubators for their offspring. Admittedly, that had been a grave mistake on their part, because there were working trackers in the soldiers' suits. It had allowed them to pinpoint their lair with ease.

Even these improved monsters, coming straight from a horror movie the Vargas should know nothing about, were no match for a _Hummingbird._ The bird opened up with its miniguns from twenty meters above ground, spraying countless explosive bullets. After that, the troops deployed by a few Raptors went through the carcasses of the aliens and found the bodies of their fallen comrades. It wasn't that these things looked exactly the same as those creatures in the _Alien_ movie, far from it, but the acid spitting thing and their approximate size were making chills go down his spine. Thinking that those things were somehow related to the Crabs was another thing he couldn't understand quite right.

Later, some xenobiologists had explained - or rather, they gave a wacky theory – that the Crabs were going through something they were naming Spontaneous Elitist Evolution. It appears the Crabs have the ability to evolve rapidly and forcefully if the need abruptly arises, and they could do so toward a particular evolutionary path that would improve their abilities proportionally with the abilities of the enemy they are fighting. It meant that this second iteration of Crabs was a direct result of the Terrans being able to defeat them with relative easy, hence the Crabs were evolving into something that was much better suited at fighting back. Not only didn't Jack like what a headache these Crabs were becoming, he liked even less the allusion the xenobiologists made that this probably wasn't even the final stage of the stubborn creatures. Their DNA complexity suggested more iterations were possible, with the final result something nobody could predict with any confidence. In many ways, what the Vargas did with the creation of the Crabs was incredibly ingenious. The initial simple form of the Crabs allowed them to mature and multiply easily and at a frightening rate. Yet, now that they had met an enemy that wouldn't so readily succumb to their sheer numbers and mechanical ruthlessness, they had the ability to evolve into something different.

Something that much more terrifying.

Quiril was now turning into a horror show to the point where they were contemplating relocating the surviving Quirilians to another planet and then turn the entire planet ablaze. Still, there were seven million surviving Quirilians, and many wouldn't want to leave their planet of birth, which complicated things greatly.

"Those disgusting things are forcing us to think of alternatives. Some way of isolating the Quirilians and then to unleash some hellish pathogen, nanite, or something else that would eradicate everything else living on that planet. The problem is that the way these Crabs are, they would probably be the only ones surviving and there's still the little problem of first gathering the Quirilians, isolating them, and getting permission to destroy their entire fauna."

"I don't think they would agree... and I'm not sure that's the right solution either," Klaus said. It appeared as if he was holding something back.

"What do you mean exactly by, not the right solution?" Jack asked, eyes already narrowed and full of suspicion.

"Perceptive as ever, Jack. Look, these things are disgusting and our people should start being more careful when dealing with them - that's a given. However, I think we should let the _Crabs_ evolve as far as they can. We should engage them and force them to become the strongest they can be."

"Why?"

"Because the stronger the enemy you fight, the stronger you get. Also, at some point in the future, we will have to venture into the unknown in search for the Vargas. Thinking that we won't come across such monsters, fully developed and evolved, is naïve to the extreme. It is better to see where their evolution is taking them here where we have the upper hand than finding out what monsters they can become only after we are far away from the Milky Way galaxy," Klaus explained. "Think of it as a proving ground for our troops. Especially infantry since most of what we send to chase after the Vargas will be just that."

It made sense, yet, the scene he had watched in which many soldiers had died were giving him conflicting thoughts on the subject. More advanced Crabs meant more Terrans soldiers inevitably ending up dead, no matter how many precautions they were to take. "That's something we'll have to talk in detail during our next Council session. It is not something I can deliberate on in a moment." Someone had told him once that, the more a problem was complex, the more time he should take to deliberate, and this was the kind of conundrum he needed at least a few days to fester inside his mind before deciding.

"You're right," Klaus said, then he changed his expression in one of disapproval, but only for a fleeting moment.

Jack knew the change in demeanor was because of the person Klaus was currently looking at. "What is it?"

"The last on the tour is called Miran, and he's from Galar."

"So, why the contempt towards him," Jack stated.

"I thought you weren't using your telepathy, Jack."

"It isn't telepathy. It is plain observational skills. Your face twitched just as you said his name."

Klaus ceded, letting out a long breath. "Recently, I began following the escapades of two of my operatives, very closely. I already mentioned them before, Peter and David. Both guys are very much bent on cleaning the galaxy of slave trader scum."

"You did mention them to me a few times before, yes," Jack said. "They were working in the Twelve Colonies until that got solved, right?"

"Yes. Since that assignment ended, they've been very busy compiling a comprehensive list of assholes who are buying and selling slaves," Klaus began explaining.

"Don't tell me Galar is involved!" It didn't take a genius to connect two and two. "Seriously?"

"I think it's worse than that," Klaus added.

"What's worse than for an advanced society to be buying slaves? Wait! What is Galar even doing buying slaves? The planet must have a criminal underground that deals in human trafficking. There's no world that has such a large population yet free of it," Jack said, thinking how even the drastic measures they were employing on Earth were still not enough. Agencies around the world had almost Carte Blanche when it came to hunting down anyone involved in the human trafficking ring. They even asked and promptly received help from TIA agents to interrogate those who were suspected with the Terran version of a lie detector. If it was determined that they were lying while questioned about their involvement in the human trafficking trade, they would be subjected to other methods of memory retrieval, up until when nothing was left unknown. Agents in the field weren't going easy on them either. Not with the sellers and not with the buyers either. It was a well-known fact that all agents involved in the massive scum-cleaning operation were trigger happy.

Yet, they were still far from having achieved their final goal.

All this wasn't being done because of a drastic change in the overall morality quotient on Earth. Instead, it was being done to change the overall perception of Earth when compared to other planets in the Terran Federation. They needed to clean up their messes because, compared to Earth, all other worlds in the Terran Federation were almost crime free. As the First World, they needed to show that Earth was still the place where you wanted to be living. Many were moving to other worlds because of opportunities. The land was plentiful and hence cheap to buy, cities were newly built with the help from the Federal government as part of the stipulated colonization package, and they were beautiful and modern. So much so that many were drooling profusely just by looking at the promo materials being broadcast on Earth. Opportunities for work were also bountiful and taxes were non-existent. At least, that was until the population was to grow to a certain point. It was the reason why Earth needed to do as much as it could in order to show the people that, in spite of everything the new worlds could provide, staying on Earth wasn't such a bad thing either.

"I see you've hit the bullseye. There's no sense in a planet like Galar to be importing slaves in the hundreds or even thousands. Too expensive to ship them and sneak them onto a planet. For Christ's sake! People in the galaxy want to be paid in weapons-grade Naquadah and not gold or silver. Galar doesn't have that much of the scarce material. Much less to spend it on something like slaves."

"So, what am I missing here?"

"You're missing the fact that Lars, the slave dealer, has a way of brainwashing people, which is what the Galarans are truly after."

"Oh, for crayin' out loud. A planet that already has technology capable of messing with one's memories seeks methods for brainwashing people?" Jack stated. "Nice, very nice."

"If you add that the Galarans are pushing many worlds to join some kind of confederation of human planets, it makes you wonder what their end goal is," Klaus concluded.

"Didn't know about that part. Since when are they trying to create a confederation?" Jack asked. It wasn't his department, but this seemed like something worth mentioning on their Council meeting.

"Not long. It's still in its infancy and only smaller worlds have shown any interest in joining. The big ones, like Orbanians, Optricans, and Hebridians are not falling for it," Klaus explained.

"Unless they get brainwashed!" Jack concluded.

"Unless they get brainwashed," Klaus confirmed, somberly. "By the way, after the mission that uncovered the true motives behind the Galarans seeking slaves, David and Peter, they went to pick up a package for their employer. The cargo was a component needed to open a hyperspace window."

"Okay. Not sure where you're going with this, though," Jack said, uncertain. In a universe where hyperspace travel is the preferred - if not only - method of travel, selling a hyper generator or a similar component was nothing special.

"The component they picked up is brand new and if a Ha'tak is upgraded with it, it allows even an older Ha'tak to enter the zeta hyperband and to accelerate to speeds reachable only by the most modern Jaffa vessels," Klaus explained.

I took a few moments for Jack to put two-and-two together. Of course, such components could not be ordered at the local store. Actually, there was only one place where to get them. "So, this slave trader is getting stuff straight from the Jaffa."

"Bingo!"

"You know, now that you mentioned it, a few days ago Teal'c told me that Grai'ac is having trouble converting their production lines to produce the new Ha'til attack vessels. He also told me that a Jaffa engineer Bra'tac sent to help Grai'ac's faction has recently died there in an accident. I remember Teal'c being pissed about it because Grai'ac inferred that the accident was the engineer's fault and that his arrival, instead of helping speed up the upgrades, ended up further delaying things. Does it perhaps sound plausible to you that the true reason why Grai'ac's faction can't produce Ha'til is that some of their production is diverted to making products meant for the black market? And, in light of that information, is it also not possible that the engineer didn't make a mistake but rather had stumbled onto something that he shouldn't have? Something that maybe got him killed?" It was a lot of speculation on his part, and he didn't like speculating very much. But, somehow, it all fit into the narrative.

Klaus was looking at him quizzically for a few seconds. "You know, you may have the knack to work in my department. Such a level of paranoia, pessimism, and overall distrust are prerequisites to joining my top team."

"Yeah, well, you didn't deny it and said that I'm wrong in thinking the Jaffa conservative factions is screwing the rest of the JFN for profit, did you?" Jack said, narrowing his eyes.

"No, I didn't. And I won't either. It may be a lot of speculation, but I think you may very well be onto something."

"Oh, boy. Now I'm gonna have to tell Teal'c about this. I'm not looking forward to it."

"I guess you have no choice. Worse, there's not much you or Teal'c can do about it. Not without proof. Also, keep in mind that Peter and David's mission is top secret, so you can't tell him the details on how you came to that conclusion."

"That's why I'm not looking forward to that conversation. He will want to know all the details, for sure."

"On the other hand, it is in our best interest to stop the Jaffa from selling high-end products on the black market. I very much await the day when all existing Goa'uld ships in the hands of pirates or similarly shady people start breaking down because of the lack of spare parts. Nobody out there except for the Jaffa has the Goa'uld leftovers necessary in order to build new components."

"I'll talk to Teal'c after the presentation. We are already scheduled to chat some time afterward," Jack said, before looking at the third guy in the group of people they were discussing. "What about the third guy, the one who's now talking with Miran?" Jack asked.

"A Tegalan named Rolan from the Caledonian Federation. They, on the other hand, could fall for Galar's flattery and join their confederation," Klaus said with some concern. "Not sure how that one would play out, though. Galar and Tegal are on the opposite ends of the galaxy. Even their fastest ships are slower than those of the Jaffa, which means making a trip between those two planets could take up to a year in each direction. Not exactly around the corner, is it? With the gates down, there's no other way either. At least the other races make more sense to join their confederation since they are much closer."

"It is a long trip, but that is also a possible reason why they are going for a confederation instead of a federation. They must also be thinking that, in time, they will be able to upgrade their hyperdrives enough to make even such trips feasible," Jack asked.

"True enough. However, that's not my current concern," Klaus added.

"Of course not. If they want to make alliances, federations, empires or whatnot, that's their business," Jack explained. "That is, as long as there's no brainwashing or memory scrambling of any kind behind it."

"We'll keep monitoring the situation, as always. I'm not going to allow these people to get their hands on Lars' brainwashing technology. Or anyone else's brainwashing technology for that matter. Also, now that we know the Galarans are up to something bad, we will check the other worlds they are visiting to see if everything they are doing is above board. From Peter's report, it seems the Galarans are sending a lot of ships away from their system, and I think there are only two reasons for that. First, they are visiting less advanced races, and second, they are searching for Goa'uld technology."

"Not that there's much of the stuff left around, though," Jack stated. Among the jobs both the TIA and the Navy have undertaken was also the one of cleaning the galaxy of technologies mostly left around by the Goa'uld, at least if those were truly dangerous tech left lying around. They were going through all the planets part of the gate network that had been touched by the Goa'uld in some way with as fine a tooth comb as they could. Everything found that could be used for nefarious reasons was immediately disposed of.

Jack knew the day when the galaxy finally saw lasting peace was coming. It was a future in which most races could be left alone to progress at their own pace, without outside interference or outright threats. Some would still need help, he knew, which was the main reason for the formation of the Peace Corps. However, even for the Peace Corps to shine properly, a longer period of peace needed to settle in first.

"No, there isn't much left. However, the galaxy is a big place, Jack," Klaus said.

There was something missing in the just spoken sentence, but he couldn't grasp what it was. "Go on."

Klaus sighed. "The gate network consists of more than ten thousand worlds, but, Jack, that's nothing compared to the two hundred _billion_ stars in the Milky Way galaxy. The Alterra built the gate network, and the Goa'uld exploited it to their heart's content in the last 16,000 years. However, as much as the gate network is a marvelous technology, it also makes you forget about the rest of the galaxy.

Realization struck. "Because of it, the Goa'uld never explored the rest of the galaxy."

"Not just the Goa'uld, Jack. I asked Aenea about it. After having established the gate network more than ten million years ago, they stopped any serious exploration. Your domain has more than ten thousand worlds in it. Why waste time going around seeking more planets? Not like real estate is at a premium."

"Which means we have many unexplored systems in our galaxy. And what the Alterrans did explore is old news now. Entire civilizations could have evolved and killed themselves three times over since then. You think we could be looking at a galaxy that is full of mysteries, is that what you are getting at?"

"Almost," Klaus responded.

"Almost?"

"What do you think will happened now that the gate network is down?" Klaus asked.

"Races will focus on building ships capable of interstellar travel and will begin exploring their neighborhood if there were maybe some habitable systems to be found or untapped resources to be grabbed."

"Yes, and when you say neighborhood, think of it more in terms of everything in a ten thousand light years radius from their homeworld. Everything reachable inside a few months of travel is close enough to be explored."

"Right. So you think humans could start bumping into some other races, is that it?"

"If we were able to meet races like the Re'tu. Reole, Stragoth and other just through the gate network, which is only a minuscule part of the Milky Way galaxy, then there must be many times more races in parts never before explored," Klaus asked.

"It makes sense. We always travel only between known planets already in the gate network system. Now things will be different. Hopefully, most races we stumble upon will be friendly."

"Not a chance, Jack. It is instinctual to put your race in front of other races. Most races that begin exploring the galaxy won't give a crap if they stomp onto some other sentient races. And as a general rule, humans are no different."

"If that's the case, we would have already had visitors by now, wouldn't we?" Jack asked. The fact that they hadn't been visited should point to that fact.

"Not as a rule, Jack. There are many species that like for their prey to fall into their web, rather than go seeking it out. Not everybody is a born explorer like we are or eager to make contact, no matter their level of technology. Ask the Nox," Klaus said with a hint of resentment.

Jack knew the man didn't like the Nox very much. Sure, better them than the likes of the Aschen, Goa'uld, or Stragoth, but for people who are as pro-life as the Nox claim to be, Klaus found it difficult to excuse the lack of intervention on their part during the time of the Goa'uld who had indiscriminately butchered countless races. He couldn't associate their pro-life attitude with their lethargic peace-loving nature, such nature that had apparently prevented them from kicking the Goa'uld's butt. Especially, since more and more evidence pointed to the Nox having some advanced technologies up their sleeves. They were the oldest race in the Milky Way galaxy after all. Older than the Alterra even. "Good point."

"A few months ago I talked to Aenea. She told me there _were_ races in the Milky Way galaxy when the Alterra were still alive, five or more million years ago, but they were too primitive for the Alterra to communicate at any meaningful level. However, you know how her race is. There's no way they would have put a stargate on an already inhabited planet with the purpose of colonizing it. The most they would have done is to observe them from afar without interfering."

"Which means stargates are exclusively or at least mostly placed on planets where the Alterra found no sentient life present. Which also means that all those races they did meet but were too primitive could now be advanced enough to venture into space," Jack replied, understanding.

"Not many, but some. She told me that races do not progress at the speed we did. We also had a boost as a result of what the device on Dakara did. An evolutionary bump of some primitive race on Earth that not only created the second iteration of the Alterra but also propelled our evolution for who knows how many millions of years. Without it, we could still be some arboreal species, enjoying jumping from tree to tree. Just think about the Dinosaurs and you'll understand what I mean," Klaus said.

Jack thought about it for a bit. "The dinosaurs were already here during the Triassic, which means some 250 million years ago. They went completely extinct in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, the event that took out some three-quarters of Earth's species of the time."

"Exactly! They were the dominant species for almost 200 million years, Jack! Can you even imagine such a long period! Yet, they came nowhere near sentience as we know it. Compared to them, we went from trees and eating bananas all day to a thriving civilization in less than five million years! Hell, crocodiles are no smarter than they were in the past, no matter how far back you look, and they are so lethargic that there's no way they are ever going to evolve into something more. It's a dead-end evolutionary path, only good for making handbags from their hide. On the other hand, in 200 million years of evolution, we expect us humans to all be long gone and cozy in the ascended realm, if not even something more than that. Something that we yet don't even know it exists," Klaus stated, sounding almost angry at the dinos for daring to evolve so slowly. "But I digress. The point is that the Alterra had witnessed races too primitive to interact back then and many are probably the same even now. Some could have gone extinct like the dinos did, too, but there could also be some that did progress into a spacefaring race. There's also a region of space that's never been surveyed by the Alterra and that could hold many surprises."

"Region? What region?"

"When the Alterra came here, in this galaxy, they quickly understood that habitable planets and those that could be terraformed with relative ease could easier be found in the various arms of our spiral galaxy. For example, the difference in the number of habitable planets in the middle of any of the galactic arms and near the center of our galaxy on average is between two and three orders of a magnitude. Since the chances of finding a planet near the center were more than a hundred times lesser, the Alterra didn't even bother searching there," Klaus explained.

Jack understood. "But a lower probability of finding habitable planets doesn't mean there are no habitable planets to be found at all, which means that we have a large chunk of the galaxy that has never been surveyed by the most advanced race that has ever lived in this galaxy. Wait! What about the Goa'uld? Wouldn't they have checked? I mean, they are scavengers who sought to steal technologies of others."

"You're forgetting that, until recently, the Goa'uld had much slower hyperdrives. In the time when Earth was in the hands of Ra, they were barely able to push into the Alpha or maybe later into the Beta hyper-band," Klaus stated.

"A top speed of ten light-years per year," Jack understood. The first band allowed travel only ten times faster than the speed of light. With each higher band, the speed increases by an order of magnitude up to the Lambda band that Liam had used the day he'd left and by doing so also made a revolutionary discovery. That hyper-band, the same as four higher ones, were thought to be unusable because of the prohibitive amount of exotic particles present there. Opening a hyperspace window was thought to be pure suicide. The following four bands were also thought impossible to enter up until past the Omicron band after which exotic particle, or any other particle for that matter, could not exist. The pi-band was the first of what were called subspace bands. Inaccessible for any matter, but perfect for signals to travel unimpeded and increasingly faster as bands went higher.

"It was a time when each Goa'uld controlled a certain region of space mostly by means of the stargate network. It simply took too much time to travel via ship. That is also the reason why the Jaffa fought the way they did. The only means of transferring large numbers of troops during conflicts was through the stargate, which means infantry capable of moving through treacherous terrain. It was also a time when going to check the center of the galaxy would have taken thousands of years. No ship the Goa'uld were making would have survived such a long journey. The last century saw the Goa'uld slowly upgrading their hyperdrives but the first major bump was when Apophis managed to develop a hyperdrive capable of reaching the epsilon band. With such a hyperdrive, the Goa'uld could finally cross the entire galaxy in a few years. This was also the time when true engagements between the Goa'uld began."

"So, to make the story short, we could still have many nonhuman races lurking in some dark places inside our galaxy," Jack summarized. "Still, how advanced can they be if we haven't detected any hyperspace wake anywhere near the regions populated by humans?"

"Very, I'm afraid. Look, it is much easier to build weapons in the form of plasma propelled at high speed than to develop technologies as esoteric as hyperdrives are. How do you even start developing a propulsion system through a dimension you can't even see, measure or know if it truly exists? Then, even when you do develop your first hyperdrive, it still takes you millennia or more to reach a hyperband that allows you to explore space that's more distant than a mere few hundred light years from your homeworld."

"Got it. While you can test various guns and see which one punches higher, working on hyperdrives involves a lot of difficult and by its very nature mostly theoretical physics," Jack answered. He was the right person to understand how doing a lot of confusing math with no progress could halt a race's progress in a field such as hyper-physics.

As Jack suddenly sensed some commotion near the podium, he turned to see what it was. Davis was moving in front of it with a tablet in hand while the rear view screen sprung to life showing the symbol of the Terran Federation. The symbol showed a group of gate symbols floating among the stars. Each symbol symbolized a planet in the Terran Federation. The known symbol for Earth closely resembling the letter 'A' was slightly larger than any other symbol. It was the _Terran_ Federation after all. "It seems the presentation is about to start."

"About time. I have other work to do instead of spending time here watching a presentation about things I already know everything there's to know."

"Why are you here then?"

Klaus smiled. "Jack, you know what my job is. This is a great opportunity for me to gauge the reactions of the various people in this room. Hell, after this am going back in my office to re-watch the sensor readings recorded to see everyone's heartbeat and other indicators of their mood as the presentation progresses."

"You sneaky devil," Jack said, wanting to say something more, but it appeared Davis was about to say something.

"Hello everyone and thank you all for coming today," Davis began, waiting for a moment so that everyone could refocus their attention on him. "It has taken us more than anticipated, but thanks to relentless research and help from our closest allies I am proud to announce today that the creation of the means necessary to take the fight back to the Vargas is finally over. As you all well know, one of the biggest concerns that many here have voiced was our lack of the right means to face the enemy outside of our defended systems. At least, that was the case if we didn't bring an overwhelming force. Something we could rarely do since most of our forces are tied down to protecting our systems as well as the systems of other human worlds that do not have the necessary means to defend their worlds on their own. Because of it, the members of the Second Great Alliance came to the conclusion that a more aggressive stance at this stage would have resulted in too many losses on our side. Even so, if the war with the Vargas was only about fighting those currently present in the Milky Way galaxy, we would not have waited so long. However, the freeing of our galaxy of the scourge that came as invaders nine months ago is a very small part of the task we have ahead of us. After cleaning our galaxy of the unwanted alien incursion - which we pledge to do as swiftly as possible - we will have to venture into the unknown, into distant regions of the universe in search of our enemy, as well as seek potential allies who, as us, have had the misfortune of encroaching on the Vargas, yet potential allies with the necessary strength to oppose such a foe," Davis explained, pushing something on his tablet and changing the image on the display. It was now showing their latest development in the war against the Vargas.

"Let me now show you the main warship slated to spearhead this menace we are facing. I present to you the BC-315, the battlecruiser _Armageddon_ ," Davis said, leaving time for the people to get a good look at it on the large five-meter-wide display behind him. The ship was gorgeous. As expected, the incredible advancements in construction methods could easily be seen even on its hull. It now looked as if the ship was carved from one single block, smoothed and polished into the desired - predatory - shape. The method of construction resembled that of the Asgard and, as a result, their ships' style was similar, yet, it still gave the look&feel of the Terran previous ships. "The Armageddon is much larger than any other ship of its class the Terrans have ever built. At approximately one kilometer in length, the ship is large enough to hold an impressive array of weapons, most of which specifically tailored to fight the Vargas. But before we come to the weapon systems specifically developed to fight the Vargas, let us first start with the very heart of the ship."

The display changed, now showing a detailed 3D animation of its reactor, depicting in broad strokes how it worked. "The TNN-PRX01 Pulse Reactor is the latest in power generation improvements the Terrans and their allies have done in hope of giving our warships as much power as needed. We all know that no matter how advanced your engines, shields, and weapons are if a ship doesn't have an adequate power source, it is all for naught. During travel, your ship will be slow and during a fight, the shields won't be replenished properly. Not to mention the weapons not firing at the desired rate of fire or strength.

"The new Pulse Reactor takes fuel pellets – small quantities of fuel comprised of weapons-grade Naquadah or Naquadria into its main vacuum chamber where they are bombarded by a sudden pulse of neutrinos. The pulse is so powerful that the injected fuel, in its entirety, undergoes fission in an instant. This, in turn, results in nothing short of a nuclear explosion inside the chamber. Normally, this would be a problem – there's no easy way of collecting such sudden bursts of energy in the form of radiation and high-speed subatomic particles. However, recent developments in gravitational barriers are allowing us to surround the explosion with a very strong gravitational force that not only protects the rest of the ship from damage and hard radiation, but it also works as a lens capable of directing the released energy towards a receiver that serves as an energy converter. You may note that the instability of Naquadria doesn't play a role here anymore since the goal of the reactor is to create a nuclear explosion, to begin with. One as powerful as the injected pellets allow.

"The energy in the form of hard radiation is then converted into a single energy form that can safely be stored in the ship's main energy capacitors, as the ship's main energy buffer. However, this isn't all. As you know, a part of the fission process is the creation of high-velocity subatomic particles, which are funneled into a secondary chamber and then - when the reactor is under full power - bombarded with additional antiparticles to achieve a second stage boost to the generator. The second chamber undergoes the same detonation as the first one, which, again, through the use of a gravitational barrier focuses the energy toward a secondary receiver optimized for collecting the energy released from a matter/anti-matter annihilation process, which is much harder to do and the main reason why antimatter isn't used in the reactor exclusively. We all know how pure the energy form coming from weapons-grade Naquadah or Naquadria is, the main reason why the element is so precious to us all. The smaller matter/antimatter reaction is much easier to deal with inside what we are calling the reactor's secondary antimatter booster. The large pulse reactor installed on the Armageddon class has three such boosters installed, while smaller pulse reactors like those installed on the Damocles have only two or some even one."

Jack knew Davis wasn't going to give hard numbers on how powerful the pulse reactor truly was. However, they were capable of easily providing more energy than the Enhanced Neutrino Ion Generators and could be scaled down more than the E.N.I.G. ever could, allowing even smaller ships than their dreadnoughts to benefit from them. However, this wasn't all. Since it was shown that the newly developed energy converters - those that were receiving the massive energy influx from the reactor and that were usually the bottleneck of any energy generating system - were capable of converting triple the amount of what the reactor could deliver, the Terran came to the insane idea of putting the reactor under a time-dilation field when under extreme power demands. A sort of tertiary booster. They managed to create a 1.8 time-dilation field without the gravitational barrier exhibiting strange and rather concerning symptoms that could destabilize the whole system. However, this was all flagged as classified information and therefore many in the room did not need to know about the Terrans having the means to create a time-dilation field or that something like that was even possible.

"This new reactor is allowing us to power a much more complex defense system than ever before envisioned. The Armageddon currently boasts the seventh-generation conformal shield capable of blocking any known weapon," Davis said, even though it wasn't true. The Terrans had a few weapons that could still pass through it, but again, those in the room who didn't know that already didn't have to learn of it either. "On top of the primary shield, the Armageddon utilizes what we have named the Aegis Protection System or simply Aegis for short."

Again, the display changed showing a realistic 3D representation of the Armageddon being fired upon by a Vargas energy weapon. However, at the place of impact, just meters in front of the primary shield, a honeycomb-like patterned surface made of five dozen individual hexagonal blocks, each no more than five meters in diameter popped out, out of nowhere. It was a darkened region that prevented even light from passing through. The newly formed plane in front of the shield was stopping the incoming weapons fire. When the fire stopped, the barrier would vanish only to reform elsewhere when the weapon was redirected there.

"As you can see on the screen, through the use of some complex prediction algorithms, the ship is capable of casting a gravitational barrier in front of the primary shield where the enemy weapon is about to hit. In contrast to the primary shield, this barrier doesn't suffer from the effects of the Vargas energy draining weapon. The barrier is more than capable of stopping the Vargas weapon before it reaches the underlying primary shield."

Jack wasn't exactly sure how this all worked. He knew that they were creating gravitons with an artificially inverted spin that instead of a pulling force created a pushing one. The created thin layer that was filled with these artificial particles cast through the dedicated grav-emitters lasted only microseconds before disappearing. That meant that emitters needed to constantly cast newly created particles, particles that need a lot of power to be constantly created. It was also the reason why creating an entire bubble around the whole ship would be near prohibitive. If they did so, the ship's considerable energy reserves would be drained in a matter of minutes. The prediction algorithms were there to create as small a surface as possible, yet enough to stop the incoming weapon's fire. Five dozen hexagonal elements created a surface of merely six hundred square meters. In contrast to such a small-sized surface, the surface of the entire ship was close to _two million_ square meters. It wasn't difficult to calculate the massive difference in the amount of energy needed to enclose an entire ship instead of only a small plane in front of the primary shield.

The ship also had a third defensive layer as its last resort. An energy field with a Material Density Enhancement Factor (MDEF) of 12.7 that made the ship's armor plating all that much harder to destroy. This, again, was classified information and not to be divulged during the presentation.

The display changed again, beginning to show the main weapon system. The new Heavy Plasma Lances. Davis was explaining how there were many improvements compared to the older plasma beams, mostly in terms of range, the rate of fire, and reconfigurability for stressing different types of shields better. He also knew Davis would skip talking about the newly developed system for their heavy weapon slots. A few people from the R&D department got into a heated argument about the right ratio of QDBs and Heavy Plasma Lances installed on the Armageddon and where to place them. Both weapons had their merits and downsides and many were arguing that the QDBs could only show their true potential against the Vargas and no other enemy. The argument was settled when a nearby scientists – whose name shall not be spoken at loud, else great misfortune would follow - came to a wacky solution. Why not make a system that swaps the weapon currently in use, with a different one stored in a dedicated Wraith storage system. Said weapon would still need to be shut down first, the shock absorption system and all control and power supply connections would need to be disengaged before the weapon could be dematerialized in its entirety. Afterward, a different one could be materialized in its place, with the power supply, shock absorbers, and control connectors once again reattached. The entire operation would take around five minutes, which meant it couldn't be done during a firefight. However, it also meant that a captain could decide which of the available twelve heavy weapon slots would have which weapon, QDB, Plasma Lance, or whatever else they come up with. A certain scientist – the same one that shall not be named - was currently working on a singularity gun that fired a miniature black hole at a massive speed. Possibly, the ultimate weapon – or a planet killer, if you will. Although, it seemed that the scientist did not know the meaning of the words _'ultimate weapon'_. In his mind, there were always improvements that could be made.

Therefore, if Earth didn't disappear in an accident one of these days, there was a good chance of getting a third weapon in the not so distant future.

Davis wouldn't be talking about the new Mark III drones either. Bigger than their predecessor, more durable, and with increased penetration capabilities. He also wouldn't talk about the Ignis Offensive System (IFS). Six small pylons, positioned to give a complete 360 degrees coverage, could extrude out of the ship's shield and fire the original Alterran version of the weapon Anubis had recreated a long time ago. They didn't know how the weapon would fare against the Vargas, however, if the Vargas never met it before, it would probably give them a nasty surprise. The system didn't work on brute force alone. The fired lightning used the enemy's shields or other devices on the ship's hull to transfer destructive energy inside the ship and destroy it as much from within as from without. There were negative sides to the weapon, though. While the new plasma lances could hit the ground of a planet from geostationary orbit, some 30,000 kilometers away, the Ignis system could hit multiple enemies but only at a distance of a meager 200 kilometers. It also becomes much less effective if the target had shield sophistication that can stop the weapon dead in its track.

Jack also knew Davis would show the latest addition to the various weapon system aboard the ship. The weapon that would negate the advantage granted to Vargas ships by their armor.

"As the ship's secondary weapon, we have the Quantum Disruptor Beams that are capable of annihilating any form of armor or energy pattern if their composition is well known to us. The weapon creates an inverse quantum energy waveform of that of the material or energy particle the weapon is trying to destroy. When combined both are nullified, resulting in the enemy ship having their protective armor removed. And we do know what armor the Vargas use, which means we know exactly how to configure the weapon. During testing, it was proven to be the right weapon to fight them."

Jack saw how Klaus was watching the people in the room, meticulously scrutinizing their expression and body language. Those who understood what Davis was explaining, also had their mouth half open. They just understood that the Terrans were talking about a ship that had a couple of impenetrable barriers capable of stopping even the Vargas weapons, as well as weapons capable of making any matter or form of energy simply disappear.

It was annihilation on a quantum level.

As much as they were happy to learn that the Terrans and their allies now had weapons capable of beating the living crap out of the Vargas, Klaus thought that they had also understood one other thing if they hadn't known it already.

If the Terrans ever decide to go on a conquest spree, they were all screwed.

"I think we have shown you enough today that you can rest easier, knowing that we do possess the capabilities to face the Vargas head on and come out of it victorious," Davis concluded, and Jack wasn't sure if any of the people invited today would rest easy, ever again.

After all, humans could sometimes be bigger monsters that the Vargas could ever become.

The Optrican took the moment of silence to speak. "Excuse me, but no matter how powerful your latest ship seems, it still means nothing if you cannot come to our aid in time. You have the tools to fight the Vargas warships, but my world is situated far from any of your colonies, the same as many other worlds of the people present here today. The enemy could still reach our planets and bring great devastation with the loss of countless lives before you can destroy them or force them to withdraw. We know you have fast ships with hyperdrives provided by the Asgard. However, it could still be many hours before you can reach our systems."

"I agree that the sheer size of our galaxy and the vast distances between our worlds could pose a problem and because of it, we have worked on something that I was also planning on showing you later today, but I see no reason not to do so now since you have raised such a concern," Davis responded, tapping his tablet. The screen changed into showing something that resembled a space station. Not among the biggest, but still almost a kilometer tall and about a third of that in depth. However, it wasn't very wide. Less than a hundred meters. It almost seemed like some kind of sail floating in the emptiness of space.

"This is our prototype Jump Station currently being built in the Solar system. The station is capable of creating a rupture in space ten miles in diameter. Ships with a jump drive installed are able to use the station to transit to wherever else inside our galaxy where the Jump Station has set the destination coordinates of the rupture in space-time. Of course, in order to get the exit coordinates on the other side, there must be a ship or a beacon sending the relevant data. We are planning to use our warships in conjunction with the jump stations for fast deployment. The moment you notify us there are hostile forces on approach to your system, we can mobilize in less than ten minutes and jump just outside the hyper limit where there's a beacon."

As far as logistics go, this was the most revolutionary development they had ever made. The precursor technology used by the Colonials had two major drawbacks. It took a lot of time to calculate the destination coordinates and there was always the risk of accidents in the form of ships landing inside objects at the destination point. This greatly limited the feasibility of the technology. However, the Terrans had come to a solution to the problem. As opposed to the Colonials, the Terrans could easily send sophisticated signals through subspace that simplified the process of calculating the destination coordinates, in many ways, similar to the signal sent in order for two gates to establish a viable connection. With a beacon on the other end, there was also no chance of collision during jumps. However, there was still a major problem. The Terrans wanted the technology to allow their ships to jump across vast distances. At the very least to allow their ships to jump anywhere inside of their galaxy. Of course, if a ship was to make such a jump with its own drive, the drive would have to be the size of their hyperdrives or maybe even bigger, which was unacceptable. Never would the Terrans decide to remove their hyperdrives from their ships in order to put a jump drive. A different solution had to be found. As a solution, a small jump drive was added to their ships that, on its own, could jump the ship no more than a hundred light years away, yet it was enough because it had the needed components that allowed the translation through the rupture from departure to destination point. This component was enough to, in conjunction with a Jump Station capable of creating the necessary rupture, allow a ship to translate anywhere else in the galaxy.

The mere thought of a ship in trouble sending a distress call and having a task force on standby popping out as reinforcement the next instant was mindboggling. This was among those discoveries that would change the face of the Milky Way galaxy. Even small patrols comprised of the smallest, single units would be enough to protect the entire galaxy since aid was only minutes away. The transport of goods inside the Terran Federation would also receive a massive boost. In the future, all colonies, outposts, and deep space bases would have a Jump Station nearby, allowing ships to quickly travel between them. For commercial purposes, privately built ships could operate without even having a hyperdrive. The way the gate network had a long time ago created a revolution, in a similar way the Jump Network will create an even bigger one. The only drawback of the system was its inability to be safely used across galactic distances, hence unable to be used for sending ships between galaxies. For that, a supergate would need to be used instead. Positioning such a device near a black hole was also needed because of the power requirements.

"You said to notify you, however, inside the restricted zones there's no subspace. Because of it, the speed of communication is limited to that of the speed of light. It takes time for light that is carrying the knowledge of an incoming hostile fleet having entered our system to reach our planet. Then it takes, even more, time to send a distress signal to the relay station you set up, again, outside the hyper limit. Isn't this too much time lost before you can mobilize? Time in which the Vargas could progress much deeper into our system and ahead of you?" the same man asked.

"Once the jump stations are fully operational and with our ships already having faster sublight engines than our enemy, we believe there's no possibility of the Vargas reaching your planet before we do. That is of course if you call us right away," Davis explained, then smiled. "However, we are working on the delay in communication as well. We are working on creating a communication system that uses the two highest subspace bands we know from experience the interdiction device is unable to block. Those bands are very energy demanding and hence can be used only for short, in-system, distances, which is enough to reach a relay outside the hyper limit. It still needs work, but it is coming," Davis explained.

To the Terran amazement, they had noticed that Rodney's high-frequency energy transfer system worked well while powering the planetary shield even though the interdiction device was fully active. This was enough for a few scientists to quickly get to work in order to find why this was possible. The discovery that the Nox's interdiction device wasn't able to block the two mostly unused highest subspace bands gave them the idea of creating an in-system subspace communication system using the lower of the two bands, also not caring much about the high energy cost of using it for that purpose. It wasn't for communication purposes alone either why they were doing the research. Getting back subspace sensors inside their own systems was also something they were eagerly working on and that could give them yet another advantage against the Vargas when defending their homes was a concern.

"Real-time communication?"

"Not in the beginning, but close enough and much, much better than what we have now," David answered. The man seemed to be satisfied with the answers.

"So, what do you think?" Jack asked Klaus.

"I think that many are crapping their pants right now. I also think that many still don't fully realize the leap this ship we've created represents. They don't realize – or maybe they don't want to realize - how powerful this ship truly is."

"It is the reason why an alliance with any of the other human worlds in this galaxy is not a good idea," Jack added.

"Alliance? No, never! The absorption of other races inside our federation that we deem to be the right fit, that's fine. And even them only under the same leash as the rest of the worlds in the Terrans Federation, including Earth. No tech that can blow the planet because, sooner or later, Murphy will put his foot in the door even though uninvited and some planet will simply go kaboom."

"Yes. Place a big red button with the words 'DO NOT PUSH THIS BUTTON!' somewhere where people can pass near it, and sooner or later some idiot _will_ push the button, I guarantee it."

"Exactly."

Jack sighed. They were digressing again and, frankly, there was not much for him to do here. Soon, the people in the room will be shown the real thing through the window. The new _Armageddon_ class battlecruiser, the Enterprise, as it floats only kilometers in front of Starbase One. The ship would then depart for its first official mission, as the first ship of its class to be employed. Jack had been aboard the ship. The interior was even more spectacular than the exterior. Being aboard that ship was like being in some sci-fi movie on steroids, one with no budgetary constraints whatsoever. Hence, there was no point for him to spend the next hour or so looking at it with the dignitaries in the hall. "Well, you have your spying on people to do here and Sam is busy on the podium if by chance there's some technobabble that Davis wouldn't know how to answer. Not much to do for me here and any moment now Walter will find me to inform me of again having neglected my regular duties. Better to anticipate."

"Paperwork awaits, huh?" Klaus asked rhetorically. "Well, good luck."

"Thanks, I'll need it," Jack said moving towards the exit. He waved at Sam before entering the corridor. Hopefully, this presentation would have served its purpose, which was to show the restless races in the Milky Way galaxy that the war against the Vargas could be fought on an equal footing and maybe, eventually, even won. He didn't know how it was going to play out, but he knew they now needed to go on the offensive and push the Vargas and their minions out of the Milky Way galaxy. The news that the massive Furling Sphere was finally on the move had been well received by all members of the Alliance. Its ability to jump up to 17.3 million light-years would give them additional strategical options they hadn't even considered yet.

It was finally beginning and he could feel the anticipation bubbling inside him. However, he also felt worried about what they would find out there in a universe of almost endless possibilities. Or at least that's how Aenea was explaining it. The information of what had transpired with Liam's ship was also relayed from Cydonia. The news was bad. Even on a personal level, he has been cherishing the moment when Liam would come back. The day when he would rightfully yell at him for leaving them for so long. And if he was feeling the way he was, he could only imagine how Aenea or the Edenians were feeling right now.

As he entered his office, he immediately slumped into his comfortable leather armchair behind his desk, feeling drained of all energy. He thought how the depressive feelings in regard to Liam were now to be augmented by more negative thoughts related to the pile of paperwork waiting for him to do something about. He'd need at least three or four hours to finish it all, at which point it would already be 8 pm. Just enough time to beam back home on Terrania to have a few relaxing hours in good company with a beer or two drank in front of the artificial pond before going to bed. If Teal'c decided to stay for long enough, he was going to spend the evening with him in a relaxed discussion, only intermittently mentioning anything related to the troubles that plagued the two races they both were trying to lead and protect.

Jack sighed. It was time to get back to work.

* * *

 _ **Thanks for reading the story. Please leave a review. They are always appreciated.**_


	15. First Voyage

**Author's note:** Hello! Here comes another chapter. Unfortunately, this will be the last one for a while. With obligations piling up, I'll use August to clean up a few things and catch up a little with the various ideas that are swirling in my head on what to write next. With this chapter, we are leaving the introductory part of this story. After this chapter, the spreading of the SGA outward into the universe will soon begin and I have to think how exactly to write it all in order to be as concise as possible - I'm not planning to write about their expansion for another 100 chapters, that's for sure - yet, more importantly, for this to continue to be an entertaining read. Hopefully, September will be the month when I continue with a scheduled posting of new, exciting, chapters.

On another note, here is something that I used myself in order to not make errors when calculating time travel of various ships that have different hyperdrives and to remember a few things that otherwise I might have forgotten. Some readers might be interested, so...

 ** _A little of explaining first_**

 _A ship's or signal's speed is determined by the hyperspace or subspace band they travel respectively._  
 _While a signal through subspace always travels at the speed of light, subspace band relative, ships can travel at any lower speed,_  
 _ranging from being stationary to moving near the speed of light relative to the hyperspace band they travel through._  
 _Hyperspace is filled with a low concentration of exotic particles, created and destroyed in a chaotic and unpredictable fashion._  
 _Faster a ship travels, higher the kinetic energy released when hit by those same particles. This has a dual effect._  
 _First, it damages the hull or, if shielded, it drains the shields._  
 _Second, it provides resistance which slows down the ship, much like air inside an atmosphere does, just at a much, much weaker rate, which allows higher velocities than those in the atmosphere._  
 _The higher the hyperspace band, the higher the concentration of particles, which result in increased drain on shields or damage to an unshielded hull,_  
 _and slows down the ship which taxes the hyperdrive further._  
 _Reaching the mu band, the density is so high that opening a hyperspace window is suicidal._  
 _Subspace begins at the Pi band where exotic particles cannot form anymore, but also where no hyperspace window can cross the mu-omicron barrier. Only energy transfer is possible._  
 _The Pi band is best for sensors to listen to the noise, the echo, transferred from the lower bands. Both hyperspace and our regular space-time._

 ** _Ship example._**  
 _A Daedalus ship travels for 25 days at 43% of the speed of light, hyperspace relative, in the Theta band._

 _Theta band top speed, vt = 100,000,000 light-years/year_  
 _relative velocity to the speed of light, v0 = 0.43c_  
 _travel time, t = 25 days_

 _distance = vt * v0 * t/365 = 100,000,000 * 0.43 * 25/365 = 2,945,205 light-years (distance to the Pegasus galaxy)_

 _if the same ship is capable of using its shield in the Iota band and travel at the same 43% of the speed of light (not likely), his travel time would be ten times faster, which means 2.5 days_

 ** _Hyperspace and Subspace Bands_**

 _0 None 1 [spacetime]_  
 _1 **Alpha** 10 [hyperspace, lowest band] [Goa'uld first hyperdrive used until recent (major breakthrough in the last hundred years)]_  
 _2 **Beta** 100 [hyperspace]_  
 _3 **Gamma** 1,000 [hyperspace]_  
 _4 **Delta** 10,000 [hyperspace] [Tollan's previous FTL]_  
 _5 **Epsilon** 100,000 [hyperspace] [Apophis and Skara's attack on Earth, Tollan  & Terran commercial interstellar]_  
 _6 **Zeta** 1,000,000 [hyperspace] [Modern Jaffa Ha'tak]_  
 _7 **Eta** 10,000,000 [hyperspace] [Wraith with no shields, limits top speed and hull deterioration]_  
 _8 **Theta** 100,000,000 [hyperspace] [Terran ships]_  
 _9 **Iota** 1,000,000,000 [hyperspace] [Terran ships (ZPM), Asgard ships with no shields (limits top speed due to damage done by exotic particles), Atlantis]_  
 _10 **Kappa** 10,000,000,000 [hyperspace] [Liam's ship; thought impossible until he modified his ship's hyperdrive]_  
 _11 **Lambda** 100,000,000,000 [hyperspace, highest band] [Liam's modifications suggest the possibility to use this band as well. No one knows how, though]_  
 _12 **Mu** [barrier] [unusable]_  
 _13 **Nu** [barrier] [unusable]_  
 _14 **Xi** [barrier] [unusable]_  
 _15 **Omicron** 10^15 [barrier] [unusable? An incident involving SG1 traveling to another galaxy in seconds (star exploding) would suggest otherwise.]_  
 _16 **Pi** 10^16 [subspace, lowest band] [active subspace sensors detecting noises from hyperspace and spacetime; some communication protocols]_  
 _17 **Rho** 10^17 [subspace] [standard communication; less noise, faster band, but needs more power; communication stones]_  
 _18 **Tau** 10^18 [subspace] [used by stargates for initial handshake protocol, correlative update, stargate transfer of dematerialized particle stream]_  
 _19 **Upsilon** 10^19 [subspace]_  
 _20 **Phi** 10^20 [subspace] [ stargate transfer control and correction, data needed for correct reintegration of transferred matter]_  
 _21 **Chi** 10^21 [subspace]_  
 _22 **Psi** 10^22 [subspace] [mcKay's high frequency energy transfer, short range or very high losses as distance rises]_  
 _23 **Omega** 10^23 [subspace, highest band] [30 microseconds for signal to cross the entire observable universe, difficult to use]_  
 _inf **unity** [all-points unification] [0s travel time; everywhere is the same point; unusable, only theoretical]_

 **Thanks to my beta, and hope you'll like this chapter as well**

* * *

Traveling to the nearby star system, one located only seven hundred light years from Sol, was a breeze for the most advanced ship in the Terran arsenal. It was so close that they didn't even necessitate the use of the Iota band in order to reach it. A lower band would do just fine, consequently giving the crew on the still freshly painted ship time to enjoy their first official voyage. Even while traveling in the Theta band at a low five percent of the speed of light, hyperspace relative, the ship would reach its destination in a little over one hour. Such low speed also precluded the need for using the shield for protection from exotic particles, omnipresent in hyperspace. At that point, the hyperdrive would be working at slightly below five percent of its max output. After all, this was the first Terran ship capable of traveling through the Iota band while also having its shield raised. It allowed the ship to achieve incredible speeds.

Speeds that were sometimes difficult to even fathom, the captain, Amy Donovan, though while sitting in her comfortable captain's chair on the bridge.

"Ma'am, our sensors are detecting a fusion reaction happening nearby. Some fifty light-years distant, almost straight ahead," the officer at the sensors station replied.

She already had a map on her left display that had automatically sprung to life when the event was detected. There was no system present there and something else was also strange. "Am I reading this correctly? Is it moving?"

"It is, ma'am. Difficult to say how fast because of our relative velocity to it, but I'll hazard a guess and say a respectable percentage of the speed of light. Point-two light speed maybe."

"Well, when you see a fusion reaction moving at a noticeable fraction of the speed of light, there's only one thing to do, right?" Amy said knowingly. "Helm, you know what to do."

"Yes, ma'am. Plotting intercept course," the reply from the pilot came. "In order to intercept the vessel, we will have to exit hyperspace ahead of the U.F.O. and then build up our speed to match. It will take some time, ma'am."

"Do what you must. Wait! Did you just call that thing a UFO?"

"Well, ma'am, it is an _Unidentified Flying Object_."

"True enough."

"Course laid in, ma'am."

"Proceed, ensign."

The ship shifted course, which she immediately noticed on her personal display. The ship was now following a curved path that was taking it in front of the ship, already oriented in the same direction of travel as the unknown vessel. The pilot had informed her, the detour would take twenty minutes through hyperspace and then a few more hours of slowly building up their speed to match that of the unknown vessel.

As predicted, the voyage through hyperspace didn't last long, not as much as the following period of intense acceleration in order to match the other ship's speed. During that time, the unknown vessel had slowly but relentlessly gained on them. They would soon join them, at the same time as when they matched velocities. Since the ship was now close enough while slightly on their starboard side, Amy thought it was about time they saw how it looked.

"Give me an enlarged view of the vessel and as much info on the ship as possible, but no intrusive, active scanning. I don't want to spook them. Whoever they might be," Amy asked the sensors officer standing on her left and slightly in front of her.

The main display changed from showing space ahead to showing the enlarged view of the ship's port side. That is if it could even be said that the ship had a port or starboard side. Amy was stunned about what she was seeing. Even from this angle, she could clearly see that the ship was a triple helix that was connected with many pylons from each of them to the central long strut, the cylinder that went through the entire length of the ship from bow to stern.

"What can you tell me about it," she asked, now very curious about what they had stumbled upon.

"Ma'am, the ship is almost ten kilometers in length and it appears to be rotating around its central cylindrical support beam. My guess is that the triple-helix around it is where they have enough artificial gravity due to its rotation. Although, the current rotation would give the appearance of only a third of our standard one gee gravity in the outermost sections. The central cylindrical structure ends in a massive rear engine. If I am to speculate here, I would say that this ship doesn't have inertial dampeners and the massive engine is probably an ion drive that over a long period of time has built up the speed at which the alien vessel is currently traveling."

"What about that yellow glowing spherical cap at the front?" She was squinting as if that would help her understand what it was. It looked almost completely transparent, yet it was clearly there.

"That ma'am would be the beginning of particle shielding technology. A cannon at the front is firing charged particles that are then trapped by a magnetic field and bent into a spherical cap so that the front of the ship has some protection. It is protecting it against space dust that at these velocities would otherwise harm the ship. It should also help against micro-meteors. The negative side of this kind of shielding is that the particle cannon is providing a constant counter force as it expels its continuous stream of particles, almost in the same way as the rear ion drive is doing. This is why the ship must constantly keep the rear ion drive operational. To provide a constant thrust. I think the ion drive is a low thrust high-efficiency engine that can give maybe zero-point-three gees at best."

"Which means that in order to ramp-up the ship's speed to point-one-two of the speed of light, the speed at which they are currently traveling, it took them a lot of time."

"It would take a minimum of four years of constant burn at point-two-eight gees to achieve their current velocity, ma'am."

"The entire cylinder must be a gigantic fusion reactor and fuel depot. How long did they travel to get here?"

"I'm extrapolating their possible flight path from their current position and direction. It is logical to assume that they have traveled in a straight line," the officer worked in silence for a few more seconds. "There is a planet thirty light years in exactly the opposite direction. If they came from there, then it would have taken them roughly two-hundred-and-fifty years to come here. I must also inform you that the ship's most probable destination is the same as ours since we are less than zero-point-five light years from the system in question and it is the only one with a habitable planet present in it in a fairly large radius around our current position."

"That's something I noticed already. From what I see here, this must be a colony ship. The people onboard are probably later generations of the original crew or they are traveling in suspended animation," Amy said, more to herself than to anyone else on the bridge. The ship would soon begin breaking their velocity and in about five years they would reach their new home. Since the Terrans were the ones who could easily find another planet for colonization, and since for the unknown aliens this was clearly a one-way trip, the decision of leaving the system to be colonized to them was a very easy one.

By now, they were practically side-by-side with the novelty ship, with the rotating triple-helix now in full view. For a ship of ten kilometers, those three helixes could easily hold hundreds of thousands of individuals.

Amy watched the marvelous ship depicted on her display, thinking about the dangerous journey these people have undertaken. Then, she began feeling sad; very sad. It was true that she enjoyed traveling on her ship. The _Enterprise_ was the pinnacle of technological achievements throughout the entire universe. However, she sadly also realized that the Terrans would never feel the joy of traveling to a different star system for the first time, or cherish the sudden news that someone on Earth had flown an FTL craft for the first time, or that humanity has invented artificial gravity that would finally open space for their race. There were so many inventions and accomplishments that the people of Earth have skipped by inheriting the knowledge of other races that she felt robbed somehow. Robbed of a large portion of what it meant to reach the stars with your own two feet. Even by watching the tv show from which her ship had been named after – it was obligatory, as it would be bad for the captain of the _Enterprise_ to miss some reference between the ship and the show spoken by a crewmember - she knew there were imagined people like Cochran and Archer who had been attributed great achievements and who have entered the history books for all times, and it didn't matter at all that it had only happened in a fictional universe.

Who will be mentioned in _their_ history books for having achieved something as spectacular as having traveled out of the Solar system for the first time? Would such a monumental achievement be attributed to... _Ernest_ _Littlefield?_

"Ma'am, I think we have a problem," the tactical officer, Levi Sommers, noted.

"What is it?" she hadn't been paying attention. Levi must have seen something that she'd missed.

"If you look at their shield, ma'am, I think you'll notice it too, very soon."

He was right. Less than a minute later the crude but effective shield abruptly stopped working. A few seconds later, it restarted with a sudden burp of particles. "That looks like a malfunction, but it doesn't seem a grave one. Soon, they will have to turn their ship around and start burning if they don't want to overshoot their intended target."

"At first, I thought the same way, ma'am, but then I thought about what the purpose of the shield is in the first place. The shield protects the ship from space dust and meteors. If they turn the ship around and spend the next four years breaking velocity like that-"

"I know, I know. Space debris will turn the ship into Swiss cheese," she said, understanding the problem. "Then, how are they going to break if they can't turn the ship around?"

"The particle cannon ma'am. If they shut down their ion drive and increase the power of the particle cannon, the ship should break velocity while still providing the necessary protection. As far as we know, the particle cannon could be even more powerful than the rear engine," Levi added.

It did make sense. The rear engine was meant for efficiency on a very long trip. The particle cannon was built for power. Power to fire enough charged particles to stop everything harmful in front of the colony ship, but maybe also to achieve greater braking than the rear engines ever could. Once the ship was on its last leg, already well in the system and once it had already slowed down considerably, the ship could finally turn and use the ion engine to ease the ship into orbit above the only habitable planet in a twenty light years' radius, but not before. "So, since the ship needs that particle cannon to break, that small glitch might turn into a catastrophic failure that prevents the ship from stopping at their targeted system."

"It is only speculation on my part, ma'am, however, I do think that's the only way for the ship to break velocity. Maybe to our standards, point-one-two the speed of light is nothing special, but hitting even space dust for a ship as fragile as theirs at such a speed, and to keep doing it for years, it would be the end of them, of that I'm certain."

She wouldn't want for her own ship to hit space dust at this speed for the next four years either, she thought gloomily while being completely safe behind the seventh generation shielding system. "So, we fix their problem."

There was the little thing that their government has decided that they should interact only with space-faring races and leave the rest alone, and although this one clearly already traveled through the vastness of space while on their way to their new home, it wasn't at the technological level the Council intended the decree to be applied at. She should call home and ask the Council for instructions, but there was a chance – albeit, a negligible one – that they could decide to leave the aliens to their fate. Unless she had gravely misjudged them, she thought that Jack and Daniel would do everything in their power to save these aliens, with no doubts or second guessing on their part. However, there were those in the Council who were sticklers for the rules - rules they themselves had imposed - not taking into account that maybe, sometimes, there was a gray area where decrees could be broken or at least bent a little for the greater good.

She was also a big believer in asking for forgiveness rather than for permission. It wasn't a policy she liked to employ often, but she did do the same thing when the Rand Protectorate had attacked Caledonia. She hadn't asked for permission then and it paid off. "We'll also board that ship and see how our new _neighbors-to-be_ look like while we download what we find in their databanks about their culture and language. In five or so years, when they establish their colony, we could meet them and it would be a good thing to by then know how to speak to them without offending." It was all an excuse and she knew the bridge crew knew it too. She just wanted to see their ship's interior and maybe take a peek at the aliens themselves.

"Yes, ma'am. I suggest we actively scan the vessel to learn more about its internal layout and about its systems before attempting to repair the damage to their forward particle cannon. After that, and since the ship is spinning, I suggest the use of our transporters in order to board it," the tactical officer replied.

"Good plan. Also, notify the XO to get her butt here. She has a boarding mission to lead," she said. There wouldn't be any Marines or even people in their combat armor for that. Even before getting confirmation, she already knew that everybody on the ship was fast asleep. The rotation of the ship was just too slow. When the crew woke up, she was sure the speed of rotation would increase. Hence, people in their skinsuits and helmets would be more than enough for the job they were tasked to do. She still wanted confirmation from the sensors officer on what was on the ship, though. At least she hoped there was some modicum of breathable atmosphere their skinsuits and helmets could process and filter, and that way give unlimited breathable air to the wearer. "I also want one of the corvettes to launch and trace back to their planet of origin. I want to scout their system to see what's there and why they'd built this ship."

"Yes, ma'am. I'll inform the crew of Corvette One to prep for launch," the tactical officer informed.

As predicted, the scanning showed the ship was filled with hibernation pods, hundreds of thousands of them, packed neatly throughout the three helixes. There were other rooms filled with various machinery and storage rooms that contained what the colonist would need once they reached their new home. On the inner side of the helixes, the side that faced the cylindrical core of the ship, there were scores of dropships attached. The more she looked at the ship and the more she became enamored with its design. To think that a race that didn't have inertial dampeners or artificial gravity could build something capable of surviving for two hundred and fifty years in the cold emptiness of space, it was truly inspiring.

While the Corvette went on her mission to the thirty light years' distant system in the opposite direction, her XO, Commander Natalia Serova and three more members of her crew were beamed on the ship. While two of them went straight for the particle cannon in hope of quickly repairing the glitch the previous scanning had clearly identified, the XO went for one of the many rooms filled with pods. He needed to crouch while passing through the doors. It seemed these aliens were much smaller than humans. No doors were taller than six foot, and Natalia with her helmet was just tall enough to bump her head. Natalia moved towards the closest of the many stasis pods in front of her. They were definitely too small for most humans to lay inside. Amy could see all this through the camera on the XO's helmet. She was now looking down at what was inside the pod.

"It's furry," the XO said, as she watched the creature.

"I can see that," Amy responded to her XO. The creature had a beautiful white fur, maybe an inch and a half long, and there was something definitely feline about her. The ears were catlike and a furry, long tail was there too. However, she didn't have paws like an animal would. Small hands were there with five digits, including an opposable thumb. There were almost no nails either and the legs were certainly meant for walking upright, most of the time at least. Upon better inspection, maybe her estimate that she was a feline was the wrong one. Maybe she was more akin to an arboreal, like an overgrown lemur maybe. If she had the proportions right, she wasn't taller than four feet, maybe just a tad more. That, in no way, meant there weren't any larger specimen in her race laying in some other pod, though.

"She's all fluffy and cute, ma'am. Can I keep her?" Natalia spoke through the comm.

"XO, that very closely sounded like asking for possession of another sentient being. Though I must admit, I wouldn't mind having one scurrying in my house either," Amy replied, still in part thinking of it as a cute furry friend to have as a pet, instead of a sentient being capable of building starships two hundred and fifty years ago when human on Earth were nowhere close such accomplishments. "That's it! We are making sure their ship makes it and I'm placing a sensor array on their path to monitor their progress as well as to inform us if someone unwanted decides to drop by." With their ships now capable of entering the Iota band with the shields powered and capable of protecting the ship from exotic particles, a battlecruiser stationed on the verge of the Solar system's hyper-limit could in a pinch reach the 700 light years distant alien ship in approximately two and a half minute. It would take hours for someone to even match the ship's speed of travel in which time the Terrans would already be upon them, ready to protect the furry little aliens. Too many aliens had died at the hands of the Goa'uld not to care for those remaining. She knew Jack and Daniel would approve. And who knows, if they leave a sensor drone to follow the ship, maybe people could start using the broadcast as a screensaver, too. Somehow looking at the triple helix ship while it spins through the vastness of space had a calming and almost hypnotic effect.

The XO was moving toward the room where the performed scans indicated the presence of data storage units. They probably contained everything about their race. Their history, culture, and accomplishment. Amy turned because one of the holo-displays in front of here abruptly displayed something else. There was a beeping sound that had accompanied the change and she knew the sound was meant as a warning. She was looking at the screen that was showing space and three orange rectangles almost overlapping. "Luke, any idea what the warning is about?"

"It is still distant, and the only thing of note is that there are energy emissions coming from-" the sensor officer stopped abruptly. "Three ships, ma'am! Two identified as Vargas scout ships… one as a battleship… accelerating steadily at three-hundred-gees… seventeen million kilometers distant. They are doing the same thing as what we did. They are building up speed to match us and the alien colony ship."

Amy took a deep breath. "And we brought them here, didn't we?"

After thinking about it a little, the sensors officer had to agree. "Probably, ma'am. The Vargas must have been monitoring the surrounding space around our homeworld. They must have followed our hyper-wake here and since there is no system present, they probably sent ships to investigate why we were stopping in the middle of nowhere."

"That's more or less my line of thinking, yes." Now the problem was what to do next. The Enterprise was on her first mission, barely pushed out of the shipyard only a week earlier and it barely went through the inauguration ceremony of the new ship's class. Furthermore, the monitor was showing that the Vargas had begun broadcasting a jamming signal that would prevent them from contacting Earth. She sighed, again. There was only one thing to do. She turned to her display and opened the comm. channel to the XO. "Natalia, we are having some unwanted guests. Just a few Vargas ships. If you don't need anything, we are going to intercept them and be back once we are done."

"Good hunting, ma'am. Natalia out."

"All right then. Mr. Sommers, please raise the ship's readiness level to full alert," Amy said.

"Yes, ma'am," the man replied at the same time as the ambient light on the bridge dimmed, now tinted with a slightly red coloration. If it were blue, it would have meant they were under cloak.

Amy knew the new pulse reactors were now powering up to maximum output in order to overcharge the ship's energy reserves, including overcharging the shield generator's capacitors to two hundred percent. Well above their nominal charge. They were getting ready for battle and the ship was obediently preparing itself for the moment when it would be asked to turn the Vargas ships into quickly spreading debris.

"First off, I want those ships unable to escape our grasp or send any kind of data about our ship's capabilities," she stated. So far, the Vargas did not know what the Alliance had crammed out of their R&D department, and she wanted for it to stay that way for as long as possible. This meant jamming any communications and leaving no witnesses to tell the tale.

"Ma'am, they are still too far out for our subspace jamming system to work at a hundred percent. Same with our hyperspace interdiction device to affect them. For that, they would need to be well inside two million kilometers. I suggest launching a tactical drone to trail the Vargas well inside its operational field but still far out of the enemy's weapon systems. I would suggest the drone reaching one-point-seven million kilometers before activating its jamming and interdiction systems."

"Do it," Amy responded promptly. It appeared the Vargas had better jamming than they did. Being able to jam their communication protocols from a distance of 17 million kilometers wasn't a picnic. Amy glanced at the monitor showing the triple helix ship. "Helm set a zero-zero intercept for Bogey One, best speed. We don't want to fight them while next to such a fragile vessel."

Both officers replied in the positive. The ship had a very neat new system for launching large torpedoes or tactical drones that were unable to fit inside the regular launch tubes. Since everything was inside the refurbished Wraith storage system anyway, they had placed several Wraith beaming systems below the ship as the, _usually_ , safest place for anything to suddenly appear.

The tactical drone came into existence below the ship, immediately engaging its very powerful gravitic pulse drive. Since there were no humans onboard, it was much easier to ramp-up its acceleration. Soon, the tactical drone was accelerating at well above 20 kps2 or 2000 gees, in order to get closer to the target where it would power up its jamming and hyper-interdiction systems. The drone was also good for spying and getting some excellent telemetry of distant targets. It also had a state of the art ECM system as well as holo projectors meant to create false targets. However, for now, its task was only to trail the Vargas and prevent them from entering hyperspace or from communicating with their people.

The Enterprise was slowly building up acceleration. In contrast to popular belief, the ship's acceleration couldn't simply jump from 0 to 1000 gees. There was a subcomponent of the inertial dampener called the inertial compensator. That sub-component was very important since its job was to prevent humans from getting splattered all over the rear wall during high accelerations, or sudden changes of the same. The compensator simply needed time in order to sync with the rest of the very complex propulsion system. It meant that it took time to raise the gees, minutes before the acceleration got to its cruise acceleration of 600 gees or rather 6kps2 (kilometers-per-second-squared), as rated for a ship like the Enterprise. The ship could push the engines more, considerably more, but since the Vargas were accelerating at half of that and since the Enterprise had a good 1000 kps (kilometers-per-second) higher velocity already, there was no reason to push it needlessly. There was also the possibility of the Vargas changing speed and vector, so having an adequate reserve was always a good thing.

The speed was slowly building up, and the distance between them and the Vargas was relentlessly trickling away. It was far from instantaneous, it would take around 74 minutes' total in order to reach the Vargas ship with a zero-zero approach, which meant that she had all the time she wanted to stretch her legs while waiting. The tactical drone had reached its destination, now trailing the Vargas ships at the same pace with its jamming and hyperspace disruption system fully deployed. With its ability for higher acceleration, it took the drone a mere four minutes to get there. She wished her ship could do the same. On the other hand, she had a surprise for the Vargas even before they'd meet face to face that she wanted to try out.

Sixty or so minutes after they had begun accelerating, the tactical officer informed her. "Ma'am we are inside the desired three-million-kilometer envelope."

The missiles could fly for much longer. They had been rated for at least 10 million kilometers under their own power. If left ballistic, there was no telling how distant a target could be reached. "Then let's give the Vargas a taste of what we have been up to for the past three years."

"Yes, ma'am. Launching now," the tactical officer replied at the same time as three long-range missiles were beamed beneath the ship. Those had a massive acceleration of 90kps2. More than four times that of the even larger, tactical drone. "Missiles are away. Time to intercept, twenty-five seconds."

Lasers, she thought. Creating strong coherent light on such high levels wasn't an easy task. Sure. Creating communication lasers, or tracking lasers, or even point defense lasers. Those were easy. But a laser that could harm a ship like those created by the Vargas. That, indeed, wasn't easily done.

Except that it was... if you were ready to sacrifice the cannon each time it fired.

A nuclear-pumped laser was a laser pumped with the energy of fission fragments. The lasing medium was enclosed in a tube lined with Naquadah and subjected to high neutron flux created in a nuclear reaction. The fission fragments of the Naquadah created excited plasma with an inverse population of energy levels, which then lased.

In short, what the geeks had done was to detonate a Naquadah bomb inside a strong gravitic field that served as a focusing lens for the released energy directed at eight tubes lined with Naquadah. On the other side, and before it all melted down because of the pumped 20 megatons, each of the tubes fires a lance of destructive coherent light in the X-ray spectrum in excess of 1.4 megatons each. When compared with modern bombs that can reach even outputs measurable in gigatons, 1.4 megatons seem like a very low yield - pitiful even. Yet, such yield in the form of direct, pure electromagnetic energy when focused in a meager twenty centimeter in diameter at the point of impact could have devastating effects. Since no one sane would make a laser cannon that each time used it exploded with the force of 20 megatons, races didn't bother very much configuring their shield for stopping lasers either. They all thought that shields should be tempered to stopping particle beams, plasma, or ionized atoms fired at high speed and subjugated to some phasing to give it a better chance of penetration.

The Terrans were going to show everybody that they were plain wrong in assuming anything when their way of waging war was concerned.

The missile reached 10,000 kilometers from the closest Vargas ship, well outside of its point defenses' reach, it turned in order to point straight toward its target and then, light was born in space. Eight very excited laser beams raced at the only speed they knew how which was at the speed of light. Five missed, while three connected with their intended target. The other two ships were hit with two beams each from the other two missiles.

Amy could swear that she saw the scout ship heave upon impact like some wounded beast as if hurt and in agony. She didn't see the other two ships react the same, though. "Levi?"

"One scout is out. A laser must have hit something vital. The engines are gone, the shields are gone and there's smoke coming out from astern. The other two are still moving, even though all lasers had gone through, ma'am."

"Finally," Amy replied. Even the energy dispersive armor the Vargas used could not _disperse_ 1.4 megatons of pure energy from a meager point-two of a meter in diameter. The armor could simply not disperse the energy faster than the speed of light, which meant the twenty centimeters of hull got hit with 1.4 megatons in an instant. This test had also shown that if hit with enough lasers, something critical inside the ship could get blown. However, it was a game of chance, and not the final weapon that would win the war against the Vargas.

"Oh, I must have spoken too soon, ma'am, the battleship has also slowed down. I would say abruptly so. From 300 gees it fell to 10 gees flat. It is possible that the inertial compensator has failed. If so, I don't think anyone's alive aboard."

"Let's not speculate. The other scout will probably follow soon in order to keep together. Which means until proven of the contrary, we still have to fight two remaining hostiles in about five minutes' time. Activate the Aegis system. As soon as we are in weapons range we are going to hit the scout ships first with our heavy plasma lances. I want those shields down ASAP. QDBs are to follow the moment its shields fail. The plasma lances are then to switch to the other ship. Helm, try to always keep us circling on the outside. I don't want a straight dogfight against two ships only a week after leaving the shipyard. Just keep us inside our weapons range and use our superior maneuverability in relation to their larger battleship," Amy instructed her crew. It was time to see how good these new systems were, especially the Aegis Protection System that should work as a force multiplier against any foe, and especially the Vargas and their accursed weapon.

They entered weapons range and heavy plasma lances exploded forth at an appreciable percentage of the speed of light. As they went, they impacted the shield of the still fully functional scout ship. The shield held. They were facing the Vargas after all and not some third-rate enemy. At one point, there were four lances simultaneously punishing the enemy shield, straining it on different points. The rate of fire and traveling velocity of the new lances was incredible. The duration of four seconds wasn't bad either, and Amy could already see that the sensors were picking signs of the scout's shield buckling under the massive pressure.

The Vargas weren't standing idle, though. Both ships were firing their accursed dark-purple spheres of esoteric energy. However, before impacting her ship's primary defense system - the seventh-generation conformal shield that was wrapping the entire Enterprise in a safe embrace - dark panels, hexagonal in shape and five meters wide, sprung into existence in front of the main shield. More and more joined in that instant, all connecting around the first few and together forming a honeycomb-like flat surface only meters in front of the primary shield. The Vargas bolt hit the gravitational barrier - a barrier that even at twenty percent was so strong that even light couldn't pass through - that simply denied passage to the affronting energy. With the job done, the barrier simply disappeared the next instant, only to reappear elsewhere in order to stop the other bolts that otherwise would have hit the underlying shield and then began their accursed energy draining. With incredible speed, the Aegis was accurately predicting where the fired weapons would hit and it took the gravitational barriers less than a second to form an impenetrable, protective wall.

"I'm not feeling anything," Amy said, curious. Did the people from the R&D department truly do such a good job?

"That's because the Aegis at twenty percent power is more than capable of blocking all incoming fire before it reaches our primary shield. However, the Aegis is using a lot of power to do it. Though, it is still worth it since the energy bolts would otherwise cause our shields to deplete in a matter of minutes," the tactical officer responded, explaining what she already knew. Tactical officers liked explaining things. It was how they were and Amy wasn't about to try to change them.

The Aegis was a power hog, the reason why it was tied directly with the main energy capacitors aboard the ship, those directly being fed by the reactors or, if active, by the ZPMs. If they were to surround the entire ship with the Aegis barrier at full power, the entire ship's energy capacitors would be sucked dry inside a minute flat, and not even an active ZPM could compensate for the massive drain. It was true what they were saying about the Aegis. There were only three scenarios in which the use of the system was worth the massive energy drain. First, when facing the Vargas weapon that would otherwise gradually drain the struck primary shield. Second, when fired at with the relativistic antiparticles beam, or a comparable one, that had a chance of slicing through the primary shield and the ship in one smooth go. Third, it was to defend the ship against a detonating STD bomb that displaced space-time regardless if the primary shield was active or if it wasn't. In all other circumstances, the other shield was deemed more than enough to protect the ship and with much better energy efficiency. Not to mention that it always protected the entire ship from all sides as opposed to the Aegis system. "Just as a curiosity, how long can we keep up like this before our energy capacitors run out of juice?"

"There are only two ships that are firing at us and the Aegis needs to pop out to protect us for only a second for each fired bolt. Since there are no enemy ships with the antiproton beam, we can also keep the Aegis at twenty percent of its full power. Maybe we could even go as low as ten percent if necessary and still be completely safe. The area is also small - the prediction algorithm is doing a great job at pinpointing the exact locus where the weapon will hit. We could go for hours like this, ma'am, and that is without using any additional source of power. If we used the three medium-ZPMs or the gifted central ZPM that as a flagship we've been bestowed with, we could go for weeks like this, no sweat," the tactical officer explained what clearly meant how outclassed the Vargas were in this fight. The Aegis was meant as a force multiplier after all, and it was proving its full worth with each passing second.

"Hours without using any of our ZPMs, you say. That's what I needed to hear," she said at loud, but she was actually thinking about the plan of action.

"Scout Two has lost its shield, ma'am," Levi said.

"Are the QDBs configured for Vargas armor?"

"Yes, ma'am," Levi responded with a smile.

"Then, as soon as you have a good targeting solution, fire away," Amy said.

The Enterprise had just turned and it was now facing the shieldless scout ship, which meant all three QDBs could be fired at the same time. Three dark, purple beams that very much resembled some angry blowtorches that even God would prefer not to touch or be touched by, impacted the hull one next to each other. It was as if the ship's previously impervious armor was quickly being peeled away. At the very center, the armor would simply disappear - annihilated into nothingness - whilst nearby armor would break away from the hull, blown apart in chunks of various sizes, caused by the spreading angry purple energy.

Forty meters wide, a hundred meters long. It was the size of the new hole that was now exposing the interiors of the Vargas ship. The beams were set for the inverse quantum waveform of the affronting ship's armor and armor alone, which meant the beams didn't affect the materials inside the ship whatsoever.

"Fire an antimatter torpedo straight inside that hole the size of a football field. Maximum yield, please," Amy ordered.

The torpedo was pumped with ten pounds of antimatter prior to launch. The relatively small, short-range missile raced from the launch tube and on its way to meet its intended target. The nimble seeker slipped through the newly formed crack the size of a football field, with pinpoint accuracy, smack in the middle.

One hundred and fifty megatons of pure and devastating energy did the rest.

"Scout two has been destroyed, ma'am," Levi reported.

"How's the other ship doing?" Amy asked.

"Under current bombardment with our plasma lances, I estimate less than two minutes before their shield collapses."

"You know the drill, Lieutenant. However, after we nicely open the ship up like a can, this time you'll use drones. I want you to configure them to seek main conduits, the engine, shield generators, armament and even thrusters. I want that ship disabled and dead in space," Amy explained the first part, putting a big smile. "And then you can notify our Marines that they have a mission to perform. We will nuke the ship after they are done retrieving a live specimen."

* * *

Sargent Theodore Sharp had watched the battle in space as it unfolded and he had to admit that… it ended pretty anticlimactically. During the entire engagement, they haven't felt even a whiff of a tremor.

Not even a shy shake. Nothing at all.

He couldn't really say that it came as a surprise, though. It was obligatory reading material to learn the capabilities of the ship he was on, as well as the specs of the possible hostiles they were to encounter. Simulations talked about ten Vargas scout ships at a minimum needed in order to force the Aegis system to drain the energy reserves due to the need for creating too many impenetrable walls all around the ship or maybe, due to extreme usage, to burn some emitters, therefore making a portion of the ship more exposed and hence vulnerable to their accursed weapon. It was one of the only two ways they could score a hit on this ship's underlying primary shield anyhow. The other way was when surrounded by scores of ships and possibly with the Vargas dreadnoughts that fired those massive anti-rays of death. Only then would they have something to worry about. If too many weapons were fired at the Enterprise, the Aegis could enter a saturation level that forced it to let some of the fire to pass through.

With the boring display of powerlessness coming from the enemy's side, he was almost ready to get back to watching _'South Park'_ from his private DVD collection - as the more alluring alternative - when the call came signaling that in short order they were slated to board the Vargas battleship. He very much liked the idea. There weren't many occasions when Marines stationed on capital ships like battlecruisers were to see action. Not for the past three years anyway. He also wanted to meet a Vargas up close and see what the fuss was all about. He wanted to try to punch one while wearing his 600 pounds Power Armor and see how tough they truly were, or in how many pieces his skull would break. However, he knew that the Vargas had that nasty energy weapon they could fire both from a handheld weapon or, if at a closer range, even from their fucking hands! That was why the order was not to risk it and instead to play it safe.

"Okay, listen up!" Sharp shouted for his squad to start paying attention. "The Vargas are supposedly tough son-of-a… _damn it!_ They probably don't have a mother. Anyway, those assholes are supposedly tough and impervious to energy weapons. So, heavy grav rifles with armor piercing rounds and, if possible, do a headshot. Otherwise, flechette minigun on full auto until something unrecognizable is all that's left. You put enough tungsten in them to give them indigestion! You got that?"

"Yes, sir!" a chorus responded.

"Another thing. Use your MDEF at max without worrying about your suit's energy reserves. We know the layout so, we won't be inside that ship for more than an hour. Plenty of energy left in our suits at that point. Our geeks are saying that with an enhancing factor of ten, our armor should be able to stop the energy the Vargas use in their weapons from passing through. If not all of it, then at least enough to keep you alive until you're brought back on our ship and put under the tender care of our onboard doctor," he said, noticing everybody grimacing. Everybody knew their onboard doctor was all but gentle. Does that strayed during training and got injured, knew that very well. "However, if I see any of you testing how good our armor is at stopping their weapons, I will personally make you suffer more than that weapon ever could and for much, much longer. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir!" a chorus responded. They all knew he was a sadistic asshole, so there was a good chance they would listen to what he told them.

"Good, good. Now, our job is to get to the computer core and download as much data as we can. That's all we need to do on this mission. Our geeks are assuring us that our system will, this time around, be able to bypass any security protocol there is, which means it should be a smooth ride. That is as long as we can plug straight into the core instead of some random terminal. However, if we could somehow get a live Vargas specimen to bring back with us for interrogation, that would be a welcoming bonus. There are many people back home that would like to ask these _things_ why they are doing this. On the other hand, there are also those who wouldn't ask it anything and would instead plug some electrodes straight into its head to see what makes it tick. Frankly, I'm fine with both."

"How are we supposed to do that? No weapon can stun those bastards and their hands shoot energy that can kill you. How are we to take it alive and transport it back to the ship?"

The Sergeant smiled, and their instinctual reaction that instantly followed showed how little they liked that smile of his. "Cut both of its hands and constrain it with the force of your powered suit. If it kicks, cut its legs too. We only need the trunk and the head anyway."

"I thought you've said to take it alive, Serge?" the same private asked.

"Oh, that won't kill it, I assure you. I was on Eden and I saw a Vargas missing more than 50 percent of its body and still able of moving and shooting. Don't be fooled into thinking that these things have anything in common with people made of flesh and blood. They are monsters that don't bleed, don't feel pain, and do not negotiate. They are only programmed to kill us all. Therefore, dismemberment is allowed. Any other question?"

Nobody asked anything.

The Marines were beamed in the engine room. It was not the closest to the core, however, it was the only possible place where to beam since only there the armor had been peeled off. No beaming was possible through the Vargas armor.

They quickly regrouped and went for the door that would lead them further into the bowels of the ship. As expected, the door wouldn't open. There was no air here because of the large hole in the ship above them and the hall on the other side was probably pressurized. However, Sharp had to reevaluate his quick assumption after he saw the large hole in the wall indicative that a drone had passed through. It meant there wasn't air on the other side either. Something else was amiss here.

No matter. A private immediately took out a plasma blowtorch and begun burning through the door. It took less than five minutes before a large rectangular hole simply fell. Sharp was the first to go through.

"Son-of-a-bitch!" he shouted. It had been almost as if he was inside the movie _Jaws_ , just instead of a shark, a slowly moving and spinning drone had passed in front of him in the hall as if some kind of watchdog floating on patrol duty through the wide corridors of the ship. Well, a shark was a better way to describe it than a watchdog because the thing was seeking a prey, at which point it would speed at it like a berserker. "I almost got a heart attack for the wrong reason."

"Is there a good reason to get a heart attack, Serge?" a private asked.

The private had a point there. "Not sure. However, I'm sure that getting a heart attack caused by a friendly drone is plain wrong."

He turned and looked at the moving hyper-drone Mark III. The thing was a menace, more than any other model that came before it and in more ways than one. Ever since the hyper-drone, the Mark II, had replaced the five-million-years-old original drone, the geeks had worked on further improving it. The ability to transfer energy to it through McKay's high-frequency subspace energy transfer system had given the drones much in terms of energy reserves, which prompted the additional research in making them more dangerous and durable.

Why not, right?

The new drones were almost double in circumference and around one-point-seven times longer than their predecessor, making them look a little more beefed up in addition to being bigger. This, the increased durability, and increased penetration power – this new model would do short work of large numbers of Leptinian craft or similar opponents, that was for sure - have inspired the addition of two completely new protocols. The first one was retrieval, in which the drone wouldn't explode but instead would return home after having caused mayhem. The second protocol was Seek & Destroy, exactly what the much larger and more intimidating drone in the hall was doing right about now. Its incredible sensors and the artificial intelligence he knew it had were making him doubt if they would find anyone alive on the ship. Although, the Vargas were an elusive bunch. He had to concede them that much. They were undetectable unless in clear line of sight. In the end, even though more power hungry and more difficult to build, the new drones would turn to be cheaper because of their increased durability and ability to return home to be used again at a later time. With this new type of drones, even the Lanteans would have had a shot at winning against the Wraith ten thousand years ago.

"Team Two and Three, take the corridor on the left. Team One is with me. We are taking the corridor the drone came from," Sharp ordered.

The other two teams obeyed, going left, while he and four other Marines in power armor went right. Passing a corner, the sight confirmed his worries. He moved another ten meters before stopping in front of two bodies. One Vargas was missing 90 percent of its chest and abdomen. The hole was so perfectly rounded that there was no mistake on what had happened. The drone simply went through it at berserker speed. The other was missing its head. Same MO there.

Moving further down the hall, they passed several more Vargas; all dead. This was again starting to feel anticlimactic. The others would probably reach the computer core sooner than they would. He knew the layout was such to give the other teams a shorter path, which meant that if he didn't stumble upon at least one Vargas still alive, this would turn into a very boring evening walk and nothing more. However, his opinion on how screwed up this mission was changed abruptly when a side door that he had previously tried and failed to open, suddenly did so on its own accord.

He got the chance to punch a Vargas after all.

Even the Vargas felt the punch from a metallic behemoth of more than six hundred pounds. He punched it square in the head, and then the head hit the wall behind it next. Its face seemed slightly caved in and the beast was disoriented, but amazingly, still very much alive. With the force he put into the punch, the head of someone made of flesh and blood would have simply exploded. "Marks, you follow me inside. Peters and Davis, you prep this one for transport."

He went into the room and immediately noticed another Vargas proffering his hand. It was enough for him to step aside, just as the Vargas fired the strange energy wave from its own hand. He expertly evaded… most of it. However, part of his right shoulder got caught in the blast. He was feeling a tingling sensation and there was some pain starting to creep in, but it appeared the armor with the MDEF active and cranked at full strength was able to stop most of the destructive blast. Even his suit's internal sensors were detecting only minor damage to his muscle tissue and capillaries.

It took him less than a second to point the heavy grav rifle and at full auto to feed the alien too many bullets to count them all. However, he wasn't the one who dispatched of the third and last alien in the room. The 3mm flechette minigun held by Marks spun and shortly afterward it began spitting a steady stream that quickly shredded the affronting third Vargas. During the short burst, five hundred flechettes turned the Vargas into mincemeat. Since there were no more Vargas inside, he went back the way he came, only to see the Vargas still alive now with its arms and legs neatly carved off.

"Easier to carry it back with us this way, Serge," the private who did the deed explained.

He didn't care. The next instant team two was radioing in a simple ' _We have the data_ ', which meant the mission was over. It was time to leave this ship before blowing it up with a nice antimatter torpedo.

Sharp could barely believe it. The Enterprise had been slated for a very boring mission of checking a planet for colonization. Instead, they first found a colony ship of an unknown race, then they did the humanitarian thing and saved them by fixing their ship, and then they did the soldier thing by blowing three Vargas ship, gathered valuable intelligence from one, and even got a live specimen for the first time. If this mission wasn't going to get somebody a medal, he didn't know what will. Of course, the captain was the most probable candidate for such an honor. As far as he knew, this was going to be her second one. The other she'd already received was after the Rand Protectorate's incident.

Regrettably, information came back from _Corvette One,_ the ship that went to check the planet from where the aliens had originated and the news wasn't good. It was one of those events that told you how indifferent the universe can be. Their Sun had entered its expansion phase. The first analysis showed that almost immediately upon departure of their colony ship, the expansion has caused their home planet to turn uninhabitable. More than two hundred years later, their planet looked almost like Proclarush Taonas.

Another planet lost in fire.

All members were back in the engine room where they could be beamed. A few drones sped past them out of the ship, those too on their way back to the ship to be retrieved, checked, and then put back into storage to be used at a later time when needed once again.

"Mission complete. Awaiting beam-out," he said on the open channel.

Moments later, they vanished in columns of light.

* * *

 _ **Thanks you for reading. Please leave a review. They are always appreciated.**_


	16. A New Job

_**Author's Note:** Well, the hiatus has finally ended. At least for the most part. This five months I definitely needed to take a breather, in part from work and in part from writing this story. I understood it in July when I suddenly noticed that I was desperately trying to finish the story as soon as possible. The feeling that I may be done with it if I wrote just ten more hasty chapters in the next two months. You know, the feeling that I would finally be free from the story if I did that. Of course, this would have been a grave mistake, wouldn't it? Both feeling like that and messing up the story at the finish line. After many years in which more than a million words have been written, to end it all in such a haste, it would definitely have left a bad taste. So, my conclusion to this problem of mine was that I needed a longer period in which I'm doing other things I like. I then remembered that I like reading stories too. I couldn't leave my job, there are bills that unfortunately come every month and that need to be paid, but in this five months, I at least read others' stories to my heart's content. I now rather need a break from reading._

 _Well, as mentioned earlier, the break from writing is finally over and now's the time to finish the story, the right way. In a way in which I'll be satisfied with the result, as well as the readers. I can't say that I'm back at full capacity or that there will be a fixed schedule of a new chapter coming out every week, but I'm writing again and this chapter is proof of that. I still have a lot of thinking to do on how to close the many still open threads or how the SGA's expansion into the unknown will proceed, but I'm definitely thinking about it and writing about it accordingly. This chapter should answer many questions on how the story will proceed. I'm also reading my own story again in order to refresh my memory. So, all in all, chapters should start coming out with some regularity with the beginning of 2018._

 _I'll try to do the same with the other story, the BSG spin-off, but no promises, though. For now, this story takes focus. The other comes after that._

 ** _Well, as always, thanks to my beta and hope you'll enjoy reading this chapter._**

* * *

 _Who would have thought that one day there would be a new moon orbiting Jupiter?_

This was the question Weir was mulling over while walking through one of the almost endless number of corridors inside the massive Starbase One, the by now almost fully completed station currently floating in geosynchronous orbit above the artificial island, Terrania. The station was big, so big that she was glad there were teleportation booths in almost every corner in order to diminish the otherwise gargantuan amount of walking one would have to do in order to get anywhere.

Making a left turn, she smiled, understanding that she'd finally reached her intended destination. She stopped in front of the already opened door leading into Jack's office. A quick glance inside and she saw Jack and Sam informally talking among themselves. She knocked on the door's frame, making her presence known. "Hello. Am I disturbing?"

Jack was the one to wave for her to enter. "Come in, come in!"

She did, walking toward the only still unoccupied armchair in front of Jack's desk. She sat, inquisitively scrutinizing first Jack, then Sam, only to go back to scrutinizing Jack's face again.

"Well?" She asked impatiently.

"Dr. Weir, are you in some kind of rush or something?" Jack asked.

"No, I'm not. It's just that… I am not called to the principal's office very often. Especially not with such urgency conveyed in the message I received," Weir said, with only a hint of worry.

"That's it! Being called the principal is the final straw! I'm changing jobs," Jack stated.

"You're not in trouble, 'Lizbeth. Far from it," Sam added while giving Jack a glare. She then turned focusing on her. "Let me ask you something before we explain in detail why you're here. Tell me, how's life on Atlantis?"

"It's fine, why do you ask?" Weir said, not having the slightest clue where this was going. The last time she felt like this was when she was ordered to deposit her butt in the oval office by no other than, at the time, President Hayes.

"Really?" Jack asked. "Is that how you would describe your life there? Just… it's fine!"

"Well, yes, I would… for the most part that is," Weir added, frowning. She was unsure of how to describe how she felt.

"Ah-ha! Now explain what that 'for the most part' meant," Jack instructed sharply.

She took a deep breath, thinking about how to best explain it. "I must admit that… ever since we retreated from interfering in the affairs of the other human residents in the Pegasus galaxy, my job has become a rather tedious one. Most of my days consist of doing tiresome administrative errands directed towards optimizing the workload of the endless number of scientists currently living on Asura."

"Am I correct then in assuming that your current job is a far cry from, let's say, what your dream job is?" Jack asked.

"Regrettably, I'd have to agree with that, yes," Weir added, somberly.

"Would you like another one then?" Jack asked.

"Another what?" Weir asked, still not sure.

"Don't play difficult with me! That's my prerogative. Just ask Sam over here," Jack said, and she saw Sam nodding in full agreement with his statement. " _Job_ , Dr. Weir. I meant a new _job_."

"I think it would have to depend on the job offer, I guess."

"Well, as you must have heard by now, we have a new moon orbiting Jupiter. The Furling sphere is here and it will stay here until we are ready to deploy it. The SGA is going to use the sphere to make long jumps to certain locations where we will be deploying supergates. Supergates that our ships will later use to travel distances too big to be crossed even with the fastest hyperdrive currently in our possession or in the possession of our allies. Through some data that has been recovered from Liam's ship, we've learned that he had made contact with many races that he later conscripted to fight on our side in this wretched war. Your job - if you choose to accept it - will be to serve as a diplomat and work on cementing whatever deal Liam has made with them while traveling aboard one of the first ships we will send through. Also-" Jack began but was cut short.

"I accept!" Weir replied vehemently.

"Elizabeth, don't answer before you know everything. You must first realize how dangerous it will be to go so far out and with little to no support from home. No matter what we do, logistics at such distances will be a nightmare," Sam added.

"I accept!" she replied, again.

"You won't have the kind of protection you're accustomed to by now," Sam added.

"I acc… wait! What does that mean exactly?" Maybe it was better to stop repeating the same words like a parrot and actually listen to what Sam is trying to tell her, and her overexcited state be damned.

"Show her," Sam added while looking at Jack.

Jack began pushing some buttons on his tablet. Soon, a hologram popped into existence above his desk. "Since you will be on a diplomatic mission, we can't send you aboard one of our battlecruisers like it had first been planned. There were notes Liam left on his ship suggesting some races may not like meeting new people in scenarios in which they don't have enough fingers to count all of the various weapon emplacements our ships have… no matter how many fingers the aliens have. We need to send a, let's say, more diplomatic crew - _and ship -_ than what we mere brutes from the military, with our big honking space guns mentality, are accustomed to," Jack concluded while putting a smile. It was like watching a shark smile just before it ate you.

Meanwhile, the hologram had successfully coalesced into the form of a ship she had never seen before. From the overall form, she unmistakably identified its origin as one of their own. A Terran ship through and through. She liked it too, much more than the remainder of their ship classes in their ever-growing flotilla. She couldn't see any weapon emplacements on the hull and the ship overall looked much smoother than any other that she knew. The predominantly white color of the hull was also a refreshing change from the dull dark-grey color of the other ships in the Terran Space Navy. The bow was much wider, clearly influenced by Asgard design, and it seemed less tall somehow, or maybe it only looked that way because it was wider, she wasn't sure. In any case, it seemed they were making floors more spacious with this particular class. "Nice looking ship."

"This is our light cruiser class of ships. Something it couldn't exactly be called a new design either since we came up with it a year and a half ago but because of the war with the Vargas other ships simply got precedence to be built over it," Sam explained.

She liked the ship very much, but she couldn't fathom why they were calling it a _light_ cruiser. "I'm sorry, I'm not all that knowledgeable about our ships and their classes, but why are you calling this ship a light cruiser when, as far as I can tell, it is almost two hundred meters longer than our heavy cruisers? At least if am reading this data correctly while remembering the specs of the Damocles."

"That's because the ' _light_ ' part in light cruiser doesn't denote its size, but rather how armed and armored the ship is," Sam answered. "Yes, the ship's tonnage is considerably greater than that of our heavy cruisers and it also has a larger crew needed to operate it properly, even larger than that of our battlecruisers. However, weapons, armor, shield, and of course even power generation systems are fewer and much weaker than what you'd find on a heavy cruiser. Also, the light cruiser greatly favors comfort. It was envisioned for the ship to be able to go on voyages that can last for years without ever having the need to dock or resupply. Because of it, reliability and ease of maintainability needed to take precedence over high performance. The designers also envisioned the ship to have comfortable rooms for the crew to maybe have their whole families join them on longer journeys, large entertainment holo-rooms, even a daycare if there are young children aboard. Even though I think that's a little too much. Anyway, most of all, the ship needs entire areas separated from the rest to be used by the potential dignitaries from any number of different races who are to be given every comfort our current technology allows for."

"But, regrettably, all this must come at the expense of weapons, shields, a thicker armor plating, and so on and so on," Jack added.

"It doesn't have shields?" Weir asked.

"Of course it has shields," Sam said with the standard _don't-be-stupid_ expression on her face. She probably deserved it too for having asked such a question. "For example, our latest battlecruisers have the seventh-generation shielding system. The light cruiser _Illustrious,_ the ship you'll be taking on your mission, has a somewhat modified fifth-generation shielding, which, although with a much less complex protective energy matrix than that of our battlecruisers, it's more energy efficient. Something very important on a ship that doesn't have the same energy reserves as our other ships. It has weapons, of course, but only the light plasma lances, a modest number of two hundred Mark III drones, just in case, and only three torpedo tubes, two on the front and one astern. All weapons have been meticulously hidden and can't be easily detected until the moment when they are deployed. The armor plating isn't the same as the one meshed with Neutronium stripes or even having the MDE system installed. No Aegis, no Ignis either. The initially planned reactors have been swapped with the new pulse reactors but even they are fewer in number than even what we have installed on a heavy cruiser, much less how many we have and how stronger those installed on our battlecruisers are. Most components were dialed down, thinking more in terms of longevity and ease of maintenance instead of top performance like what we need on our other military ships. I'm also sure that, once the war is over, this type of ship will become predominant in our fleet because of all of its positive qualities."

"In short, I wouldn't take the ship into a serious battle if I were you. That said, I am also confident that its shield is strong enough to give you enough time to skedaddle if the situation goes FUBAR. Hell! There were times when we thought of the Daedalus-class ships as almost indestructible and this light cruiser you're getting, the _Illustrious,_ has a shield at least three times stronger than that class of ships ever had! I am confident you'll be fine with the _Illustrious_ on your own. However, just to make sure, you'll be given a small pack of wolves in the form of three Defiants to shadow you under stealth, so if shit hits the fan, they are there to run interference. You'll also have one light support ship with you. You'll need it in order to haul the Defiants when traveling between galaxies since they don't have an intergalactic hyperdrive, and for carrying additional supplies or for performing larger repairs if something happens," Jack explained.

"I'll take it!" Weir said all excited. She was going back to being a diplomat, what she liked doing the most.

"You will have Woolsey by your side, and the captain of the ship, James Warren – I assure you he's a good captain, and you'll like him as a person too – who'll be in charge of the hard decisions when lives are at stake. However, overall you're in charge of the mission, how it will proceed, and when it might be a good thing to back down."

"Why Woolsey?" she asked, uncertain of why having two diplomats on a single mission.

"Are you going to explain to her why?" Jack asked Sam.

"Because there are races who'd probably rather deal with a male than a female of a species, or vice versa, so we need both on any diplomatic ship," Sam said, raising her hand clearly to forestall any complaint coming from her. "I know, I know, but we are not here to teach alien races around the universe about equality between sexes. We need allies to fight the Vargas and we need them badly. Therefore, we will have to adapt."

"And frankly, I don't think that we even have the right to impose our moral codes on alien races many hundreds of millions of light years away from our galaxy that may very well be millions of years older than we are," Jack added.

"Point taken. Making friends comes first, even if I have to keep my principles bolted deep down," Weir said. She didn't like it, but during her time in the Pegasus galaxy she understood and accepted many things the idealistic her from before she had joined the Atlantis Expedition wouldn't have so easily out of principle. First, the universe was much bigger than Earth, which meant imposing their principles on others in their galaxy or further out in the entirety of the universe was above simply being arrogant. That was even truer when nonhuman races were a concern. Who knows, maybe a race has their males completely useless, even more so than what was the case with humans, and only useful when it came to making the next generation of their species. That could easily require them to be a Matriarchal society.

Who were they to try to impose equality in such a society?

Second, a balance between pragmatism and idealism must be found. Too much of one or the other tended to give negative results. If she had clung to the naïve notion that everything can be solved through peaceful negotiation or that there was always a solution that benefitted both sides, she would have made many mistakes that could have possibly cost many lives in the Pegasus galaxy. Instead, she began adopting a different type of diplomacy. She called it gunslinger diplomacy. Be good, listen to all sides, but when they show to be unreasonable, show them who's the fastest draw in the galaxy. And for that, she had Shepard by her side. Speaking of which…

"What about Shepard? In these last few years, I saw him wither more than that poor cactus he has in his office and that he has stopped tending a very long time ago. I haven't seen him in a week or so either."

"He's easing in his new command of a battle group slated to depart for hostile territory when the time comes. He's currently performing drills in the Haven System," Jack explained.

"Battlegroup?" Weir asked, puzzled.

"Yes, he'll be the admiral in charge of the flagship, the battlecruiser _Restless_ , four heavy cruisers, fifteen Defiants, two of the new assault carriers filled to the brim with smaller spacecraft, and a heavy support ship that among other things has the ability to dock many smaller ships like the Defiants and tow them to neighboring galaxies. He's going on the front line, Elizabeth. Almost at the same time as you," Jack explained.

"Doing what? Fighting the Vargas?" Weir asked.

"Not yet. For now, we are going to wage a little of asymmetric type warfare against an enemy that is much more numerous than we are. For that, we have two types of battlegroups. One type, among other ships, has dreadnoughts in it and their job will be to destroy or take control of the Vargas space stations by any means necessary. Those big things protecting the anomalies. Our idea is to close or take control of as many Vargas routes as we can and disrupt their logistics while simultaneously using the Furling Sphere for deploying as many supergates as we can. The dreadnoughts will do great in destroying the stations from a distance if the commander deems there's no way of taking control of them.

"The second type of battlegroup is the one Sheppard belongs to. Their job will be to seek races the Vargas have enslaved and possibly find a way to free them. However, if they are bent on doing the Vargas bidding on their own free volition, then we go weapons hot and we take them out."

"Isn't Shepard's battlegroup too small for that type of task?" Weir asked, a little worried. "I mean, he has twenty warships in total if we don't count the carriers and the heavy support ship, and most of them are Defiants. The smallest warships we have. I get that the new ships are powerful, but still, twenty ships against an entire race that's working for the Vargas seems like a little too few, in my opinion."

"That's the point of guerrilla warfare. Dr. Weir, we are not going there to have a fair fight in the sense of lets all get-together, our forces on one side, your forces on the other, and let's slug it out," Jack began explaining. "What we do is, we find undefended targets, smaller groups of ships, planets with less than optimal defenses, or we plainly sneak in with our awesome cloaks active and dump a quantum bomb on whatever we want to be erased in endless cleansing fires. In guerrilla warfare, if the commanding officer can't answer the simple question - _what overwhelming advantage do we have against today's target? -_ then that day there's no mission to be had. Period."

"Bombing? Bombing what exactly?" Weir asked. A quantum bomb worked on the same principle as the unsuccessful first test with the Arcturus reactor. Sudden creation of a lot of exotic particles during the process of extracting zero-point energy from our own space-time.

Bad, very bad.

Jack sighed, looking annoyed "Dr. Weir, if a race is committing genocide on behalf of the Vargas of their own volition - with no type of coercion, technological or otherwise, whatsoever - then the gloves are coming off. Which means, at best we nuke them back into the Stone Age. At worst, extinction level event, and they are gone! We aren't going to be needlessly cruel, but those Hunters, for example, will soon have a knife made of chipped stone as the most sophisticated weapon their society can produce and it will be that way for the conceivable future, I guarantee you that. And they should be glad we are not cracking their planets like watermelons!

"Both your ship and battlegroups like Sheppard's will have scientists - ours, Edenian and Asgard - to troubleshoot anything the Vargas might have done to races to make them submissive or in your case to aid you in your diplomatic endeavors. You will also be going with a newly minted Alterra named Loran, and Freyr from the Asgard as representatives of the other two races in our Alliance. We are still trying to find out if the Nox are sending somebody, though. Maybe on your ship, but on Sheppard's, not a chance."

"I'm happy to hear that I won't be alone," Weir added.

"You are? Thought you'd be annoyed," Jack asked.

"Not at all. Frankly, I wasn't sure why the Alterra and Asgard have agreed to let us lead the diplomatic missions. I thought the Alterra would have taken the reins on that one for sure."

"I think the main reason is that they have a convoluted way of thinking in which the older races _must_ teach the younger ones on how to do things and there's no better way than to let us do things ourselves… while under their unobtrusive supervision, of course. It seems that the fact that the situation is precarious and that a screw up can cause massive damage to the war effort isn't phasing them in the slightest," Jack explained, clearly showing how he didn't understand their reasoning, not completely anyway.

And he was one of them.

"It also looks like we are the only one in the Alliance who thought of building ships meant for diplomacy. The Asgard O'Neill and Valhalla look ten times more menacing than how they looked three years ago, and the Edenians are bent on using at least five improved Echelon-AI-ships to go with each crewed ship as escorts, and those distinctly look like very big weapons and nothing else. Something to do with the fact that there are more than a hundred times fewer Edenians than there are Terrans. We can afford a military comprised of 80 million people in a heartbeat, which is our planned one percent of our population. The Edenians have around fifty million people total."

"As far as I know, every newly minted Alterra gets the Repository of Knowledge downloaded into their brain, which means they are better to have with you than having any database, no matter how intelligently categorized and complete it is. Having an Asgard is also great if quick and logical thinking is needed," Weir explained. And if she could deal with the likes of McKay, having an Alterra and an Asgard, maybe even a Nox if they decide to join, would be a walk in the park. Maybe even pleasant.

"Agreed. Having them is welcomed," Jack said. "Well, this is, I think, all for now. You'll now get all the pertinent data the Alterra were able to retrieve from Liam's ship regarding the races you'll be meeting. I think the first race you'll be meeting is the Aklarian Dominion, some two hundred million light years from here. It is the closest potential ally that Liam met. Don't know as much as I'd like about them, though. Also, I'm not sure when the Sphere will be getting on its way, but with its incredible jump drive it could reach the Aklarian region of space and be deploying a supergate there in less than ten days, easy. Which means you could be asked to deploy in as few as fifteen days."

"It is not a problem. I'm ready now for that matter. I am a little curious about Liam and the Sphere, though. I haven't heard much. Being in Pegasus and all," Weir asked. No gossip, innuendoes, or random tidbits of data. Nothing like that had reached Pegasus in regard to the recently acquired Furling Sphere.

"Not much is known at this point. To answer your first concern, we have no clue what happened to Liam except that it must have been bad. At the barest, he has been separated from his ship, which effectively flags him as MIA. At the worst… well, let's not go there yet," Jack said, clearly not liking where his thoughts went for a moment. "The Sphere. A big, fat unknown! The Furling AI doesn't have a clue where his people went. Some twenty thousand years ago, the Sphere was finally constructed, at which point a Furling's consciousness - Hunahpu I think the name of the chosen Furling was – was stored in the memory banks of the massive construct. Unfortunately, it seems that Hunahpu was scrubbed of his knowledge of anything related to the plans the Furlings might have for themselves, probably for security reasons. The only things he knows are the last few moments before the transfer of consciousness had been performed and a vague recollection that the Furling were moving further away from our region of space with the prototype sphere."

"Prototype sphere?" Weir asked.

"Yes. Apparently, the Furling created another sphere first. A considerably smaller one meant as a testing bed for some of the technologies they later installed in the larger one. The sphere we have here, currently parked as one additional moon in orbit around Jupiter, has a radius of around 1,800 kilometers. The prototype sphere had one of only 450 kilometers. Still, it appears that it had the same ability to predict exit jump points, which makes these two spheres the only two constructs in existence that we know of capable of jumping such ludicrous distances safely without ending inside an asteroid or larger celestial body by mistake. It isn't even all that strange if you think about it since the other sphere is filled with a species capable of predicting the future," Jack concluded, scratching his head. He was digressing a little. "Anyway, all races in our alliance are going through the sphere but it will take some time before we learn everything the sphere holds. Of some note, though, we did find a massive hangar filled with some special type of ships."

"What kind of special ships?" Weir asked. Jack had put a strange face, one that he wouldn't have put if it were about big honking spaceships with planet blowing weapons stacked on their hulls. She wasn't seeing any drooling either.

"I would call them seed ships. Inspection of one has shown that the ship is nothing more than a missile with a hyperdrive astern and a heavily reinforced bow. We surmised that those ships could enter the Iota hyperband and the reinforced bow allows them to reach higher speeds even without having to deploy a heavy shield to protect against high-speed impacts with the omnipresent exotic particles. This allows the ships to travel at an appreciable portion of the speed of light, hyperspace relative, of course, making them extremely fast. Their narrow profile and overall small size help too," Jack said.

"You didn't say why you call them seed ships."

"Supergates," Jack said. "We would probably come to the same solution, eventually, but the Furling beat us to it. Their idea is for the Sphere to travel for hundreds of millions of light years, there to deploy a supergate, and then launch seed ships with the task of deploying additional supergates in a hundred or so million light years radius wherever it is needed. With each deployed supergate they can get support through it. They are still slower than the Sphere, but a seed ship traveling through the iota hyper-band at near the speed of light can cross a hundred million light years in a little over one month. In short, the ships are massive hyper-missiles."

"It seems smart. Each deployed supergate then allows instant resupplying from the Milky Way galaxy," Weir said thoughtfully.

"Close, but not completely true," Sam added.

"Why not?" Weir asked.

"The supergates have a maximum range of seven hundred million light-years."

"Why? I thought a black hole is capable of providing whatever power is needed."

"It is, with plenty left," Sam confirmed. "The problem is in the components unable to survive the flux of so much energy coursing through them. Even a normal gate is at its limits when we are dealing with such vast distances. We've seen it when we dialed Destiny. A supergate, on the other hand, needs several orders of magnitude as much energy to create a super-wormhole. Transferring a stream that represents a person or transferring a stream of a hundred million tons heavy ship, it isn't the same thing either."

"In short, above seven hundred million light-years, you risk blowing a fuse during the initial creation of the super-wormhole or even worse, half through the transfer and reintegration process of a ship," Jack surmised. "Frankly, I would say that connecting to the Destiny was risky too. I saw how that gate was sparking while connected to the other end a few billion light-years away. The higher exit velocity our people experienced tells me that the gate was at its limits. Can you imagine an entire ship suddenly exiting at a much higher exit velocity even before the inertial dampeners could react?"

"It is true that we are talking about powers only found in black holes," Sam said. "Not many systems can work with such overwhelming energy sources."

"And distances that still feel ridiculous to be even mentioned," Weir added. "I still can't wrap my mind around the notion of traveling millions of light-years in a heartbeat. Does this also explain why the Vargas don't use supergates, but rather their strange anomalies?"

"We have no idea how those anomalies work or what distances can be crossed, but they do have many advantages over using a supergate. They seem capable of swallowing as big a ship as it can be. Ships tens of kilometers or entire fleets can travel through it with no apparent limitations. Or the need for a black hole nearby as a power source. They have some other way of supplying the needed energy and it also seems that anomalies don't need as much power as gates do, which is strange," Sam said.

"On the other hand, one anomaly connects two fixed points in the universe. You can't dial a different destination like with a gate. If they could do that, this war would have already been lost a long time ago," Jack said.

"Right," Weir said, for the first time realizing how such a change in technology could easily upset the balance of power. If any anomaly could deliver whatever needed to any other anomaly in the known universe, their struggle would have been over a long time ago. It was good that, apparently, the universe had some limitations on what was possible and what wasn't.

"Some work Liam has done suggests that making an anomaly is incredibly difficult and not something the Vargas can do anytime they want. It may take decades to fix and stabilize a wormhole. It is probably the reason why there aren't so many of them, relatively speaking, of course," Sam explained. "There are plenty already, but if easier to build, the Vargas would have placed one in each galaxy they went to, of that I'm certain."

Weir listened to what Sam has explained, but frankly, part of her brain was already thinking of the mission ahead of her. "So, the Aklarian Dominion is my first candidate for becoming an ally in this war."

"I can tell you even now the little we know from the fragments we have recovered, which isn't much. We think Hunahpu will be able to recover more from Liam's ship, but it will take some more time," Jack began explaining. "Anyway, the first thing that you need to learn stems from their name."

"Aklarians?" Weir asked, not understanding.

"No, the other word," Jack said, looking annoyed.

It was true. She should have thought about it immediately. The connotation it gives. "Dominion."

"Yes, Dominion," Jack repeated the word. "It appears the Aklarians are a race that subjugates other races who are living in their ever-growing territory. And it is already a very vast territory at that."

"How vast?" Weir asked. She didn't particularly like what she was hearing.

"Their core spans across seven galaxies. If we include their fringes, we are talking about around forty galaxies in total."

Her jaw had just dropped by an inch. "How big are they?"

"From the data Liam sent, it seems there are around six trillion Aklarians and half that over in subjugated races," Jack answered.

It was difficult to imagine such a number of sentient beings. On the other hand, the Goa'uld and the Wraith took care of any overpopulation problem on a galactic scale in their immediate neighborhood pretty well. "They have subjugated trillions of people?"

"Yes, but it's not as bad as you think. It's not great either, but it appears their philosophy is to incorporate other races into their dominion since they believe to be best suited to lead," Jack added.

"Sure, but inside a Dominion in which the one doing the dominating are the Aklarians, there has to be discrimination against other races. You can't tell me there isn't any," Weir spat back, frustration starting to well inside of her.

"It's not all bad, but, sure, it's not all good either. Of course there's discrimination. From what we've gathered so far, it seems that no individual from another race can accuse an Aklarian of any wrongdoing if said individual doesn't have an Aklarian sponsor. From the notes Liam left, using such a method to right a wrong is also double-edged. If the individual seeks an Aklarian sponsor, even if they later win in court against the Aklarian that wronged them, they still end up indebted to their new sponsor. In truth, it's a no-win situation," Jack explained. "This is the worst about the Aklarians that we were able to find out thus far. The good thing is that, since the Aklarians think of themselves as the enlightened ones who are there to show other lesser races how to progress, the interaction between Aklarian individuals and those of other races is rare. After establishing some rules and laws the other races in their Dominion must abide by, the Aklarians mostly leave them alone and have minimal or no interaction at all with them."

"Still, I can't see us seeing eye to eye with them, much less the Alterra being able to. And by that I mean Liam too who had met them already," Weir said.

"We don't know exactly, but from the tone of his notes when he talks about the Aklarians, he doesn't like them very much either. However, there are two reasons why he thinks we should form an alliance with them."

"Which are?"

"First, the Aklarians have a navy of around 200,000 ships, with a good portion of them capable of intergalactic travel. And second, the Vargas already tried to take them out and failed."

"200,000 ships!" Weir shouted. "Well, with so many, I guess even the Vargas would think twice before invading."

"No, that's not the reason," Jack said.

"It isn't?"

"The real reason is that the Aklarians have developed a device capable of creating distortions in our space-time, and it works across incredibly vast distances. They have placed countless such devices across their galaxies that are creating regions impossible to travel both in normal space or hyperspace. A ship is simply tossed out of hyperspace, violently - as Liam has attested - and then you find yourself stranded in a region where the laws of physics don't function quite the way they should be working. They were able to create countless such mazes in their galaxies that only they know how to traverse without getting stuck. And they can reconfigure those mazes with little effort, which gives them a massive home-field advantage. After the Vargas sustained heavy losses while trying to map their galaxies, the Aklarians spent that time further preparing. Eventually, the Vargas must have decided to leave those galaxies alone as, overall, inconsequential to them. Too much effort for very little gain when compared to the vastness of the known universe. The way of protecting themselves also precludes the Aklarian from being able to expand their territory too quickly."

"It makes sense," Weir added. "Making mazes with boundaries made of distorted space-time on a galactic scale can't be easy."

"No, it can't," Jack added before continuing with the explanation. "This is why Liam wants to befriend them even though he knows that long-term friendship isn't gonna happen. He even promised to give them gate technology as a bonus."

"He did?" Weir said. "I get Liam's wish for the Aklarians to join the war, but still, giving a race that likes to dominate other races and has expansionistic tendencies gate technology isn't what I'd have expected from Liam."

"Sam and I had the same reaction when we first heard. However, Aenea explained something that we missed noticing, or rather, something that we didn't even know," Jack said, smiling wickedly.

"Which is?" Weir asked.

"Will you explain? You're better at this stuff," Jack asked Sam.

"Liam promised to give the Aklarians the theory behind the inner workings of the gates, but there's something that if you don't know makes it difficult to use them. It is probably the main reason why not many races develop gate technology. In short, the energy expenditure is too great for such a system to be of any use," Sam began explaining.

"I don't get it. We used the gate every day without any trouble. True, the electric bill in Cheyenne Mountain was substantial, but far from prohibitive. What am I missing here?" Weir inquired.

"The 36 minutes limit is the key. In order for a gate to guarantee the integrity of the reconstituted matter, matter transported from one gate to the other, normally the _Phi_ subspace band needs to be used. The problem here is that the _Phi_ band is a very high subspace band and over great distances, it needs massive amounts of energy to work. Because of it, the Alterra devised a trick. A gate uses a lower band, the _Tau_ subspace band, for transfer of the stream of dematerialized matter, while the _Phi_ band is only used to transfer control and correction data that ensures perfect reconstitution of matter at the receiving end. The problem is that, after 36 minutes, the two created subspace tunnels - let's call them the _tau_ and _phi_ tunnels - go completely out of sync. At that point, the gate must switch from using the T _au_ band for the transfer of the dematerialized matter to the higher Phi band, which results in a massive bump in power consumption. We know from experience that after 36 minutes, we need a ZPM or a similar power source to keep the gate open even if it is to connect gates located in the same galaxy."

"Huh, I never actually thought about why there was a 36 minutes limit. I just thought it was a safety feature to close the connection after 36 minutes," Weir said.

"There isn't any such feature. We know from experience that if additional power is added to the gate – from a black hole or explosion - the connection will not shut down on its own. This is proof enough that there is no such safety feature."

Weir was nodding in understanding. "So, this means that the basic theory Liam promised to the Aklarians is worth nothing."

"Almost nothing, yes," Sam agreed. "They might still be able to create a gate used for shorter distances, but the energy consumption, if used on a wider scale, could bankrupt them."

"Liam is tricking them. Good for him," Weir smiled. "Better than the thought of him giving such advanced technology to the likes of the Aklarians."

"He also agreed for the installation of two supergates. One in their central galaxy and another in the farthest galaxy in their domain. They are having some trouble there with some indigenous aliens and their hyperdrives are also slower than ours. It takes too much time to bring reinforcements. He told them that the supergate tech isn't his to give and that the true owners of the technology are not ready to share the theory behind it with others but are ready to lend the finished products if he asked. With this, he had limited what he gives them for their cooperation in the oncoming war with the Vargas," Sam concluded.

"Unfortunately, we don't know much more than that. There's also the initial report that suggests their initial meet, Liam's and of the Aklarians, didn't go so well. Frankly, Liam believes the reason the Aklarians decided to make contact was that they understood that he was able to detect the anomalous regions and even escape from one by using a small jump drive that he built on his ship just for the purpose. They probably think that it is better to be on friendly terms with someone who can negate their most effective defense than to antagonize him. They didn't know, though, that Liam couldn't detect the anomalies from more than a few light-days away, which had forced him to travel at a much slower speed than usual. He didn't tell them that, so we are not telling them that either. Got that?" Jack asked sternly.

"Keep the seepage of important information to a minimum. Got it," Weir responded, smiling. There was no way she would give anything to the likes of the Aklarians.

However benevolent their Dominion might seem, it was still that. A Dominion. One in which rules were imposed on other races and one in which equality didn't exist where the Aklarians were concerned. Jack was right. There was very little information and she didn't want to be prejudiced against the Aklarians before she even met them and then made her own opinion of what kind of people they were. However, her hopes of having an amicable relationship with them were almost nonexistent. In her educated opinion, the Aklarians wanted to gain as much as possible from their interaction and they were the kind that would do whatever it takes to accomplish that. In the same way, she, Jack, and Sam had already understood Liam's initial conclusion that long-term friendship or an alliance with the Aklarians is impossible because of some major philosophical differences. The Aklarians would most certainly have come to the same conclusion.

Which meant, the moment their mutual interest, which was the defeat of the Vargas, was gone, the Aklarians and the Second Great Alliance would be at each other's throat. She was sure of it. Thankfully, the Aklarians were more than 200 million light years distant, and they had even slower hyperdrives, which meant there wasn't much reason to worry about a war against them. At least not in the conceivable future.

"Your first job is to make contact with them, sign a deal for their cooperation in the war against the Vargas, and to oversee the installation of the two supergates, which by the time you get there will already have been deployed by the Sphere. They will probably ask you to test them by traveling between the two galaxies and to be given the necessary protocols to dial the supergates," Jack explained.

"Yes, you mentioned a race they are fighting in that other galaxy. Are we really helping the Aklarians subjugate another race?"

"Dr. Weir, there are worse races than the Aklarians out there. No matter how bad the Aklarians sound with their Dominion, they are actually doing something good too. Who the Aklarians are fighting, they are calling them the Scourge. A nomadic race that over the eons had spread across countless galaxies, even from galaxies outside of the Aklarian region of influence. They don't even know where they are originating from. All we know about the Scourge is that they lay waste wherever they go and then when they are finally done, they simply move on to the next target. Believe it or not, they use massive hollowed asteroids to travel. Even when traveling to a neighboring galaxy."

"How can they move an asteroid weighing what's probably countless millions of tons across intergalactic distances? The mere idea of accelerating such an asteroid, be it in normal space or hyperspace, is inconceivable to me."

"They don't need to accelerate it by much because they don't care how long it takes to travel to another galaxy. You need to think of it more like, for example, together with our Solar system, our planet Earth traveling through space. You don't care how fast Earth's moving or where it will end up in a decade or a century because the daily routine on our planet isn't influenced by it. The same way the Scourge are living their lives inside massive asteroids while traveling, maybe for years, decades, or maybe even centuries across the void between galaxies while in hyperspace. As far as they can tell, the Aklarians think the Scourge has been around for millions of years. The Scourge has been detected in multiple galaxies by the Aklarians. Those separated groups were at a completely different technological level from each other, which would indicate that a long time has passed since they last communicated."

"Do we know something else about this Scourge except that they are bad?" she asked.

"No, nothing. Even if there is something in the databanks on Liam's ship, it hasn't been recovered yet. Most of what was recovered were audio logs Liam recorded, but there are no attached files, like videos or images. Not of the Scourge and not of the Aklarians. Unfortunately, recovering data from crystals that are containing it inside quantum lattices isn't easy and if you rush the process, it could damage the crystals and cost you everything that was on them. I think you'll have to be the one to ask the Aklarians for more information on the Scourge, Dr. Weir," Jack explained.

"Not a problem, but I'm unsure if there's a point in meddling into this Scourge race. We have enough to worry about with the Vargas. I also wouldn't want to sidetrack any talks with the Aklarians. I would like to keep the discussion short and to the point, all with the sole purpose of enlisting them in our war against the Vargas," Weir replied. From what she'd heard up until now, the Aklarians were not against asking for advancements in return for their cooperation. Further talks could give them strange ideas, maybe even decide to reevaluate what they had already gained with Liam and ask for more. Especially since Liam, the one who initiated the talks wasn't going to be there. In her opinion, she needed to keep the talks to a minimum and as concise as possible.

"Normally, I would have agreed with you in a heartbeat, Dr. Weir – the less we talk with the Aklarians, the better. That is if it wasn't for the little fact that the Scourge seems to be originating from a region of space located somewhere between us and the Aklarian Dominion. If we assume that, as a nomadic race in search for new resources, the Scourge is probably spreading in all directions. Then, there is a good chance of them traveling our way as well. We also don't know for how long they have been at it, which means that they could still be a hundred million light years away from us, or they could already be inside our Local Group. You may not know this, but we have plans to travel to each of the 54 galaxies in our Local Group, put supergates in all of them and then do some exploring and monitoring of our immediate neighborhood. It's not a short-term plan, but we would still like to know if we have to worry about some Scourge or other race coming our way, or maybe already being somewhere near us.

"Only recently I found out that a race called the K'lar, which are the archenemies of the Asgard located in some nearby satellite galaxy to Ida, are still very much alive and kicking. The reason why they don't venture outside of their galaxy is that, during the Asgard-K'lar war, the Alterrans intervened and the K'lar are still psychologically scarred from the experience. It seems the Alterrans can turn into pretty ugly monsters if pushed, at least that's what I got from Thor's stories. In short, for their treachery, the Alterrans scared the living crap out of the K'lar and as punishment they were turned back into their Stone Age and explicitly forbidden to _ever_ venture outside of their small satellite galaxy. Something they hadn't done in more than five million years, probably only because they didn't know there were no Alterrans around for a very long time, at least until recently," Jack explained. He seemed frustrated. Probably because nobody informed him about this until recently. She completely understood how he felt.

It was strange to her to hear Jack speak of the Alterrans as if they were something foreign, or alien. He was one of them and based on how Jack is, she could clearly see that Alterrans too if pushed could turn into pretty ugly creatures, the same way as humans could. In the end, Jack's conversion into an Alterran hasn't diminished his fascination with big guns, the same as his willingness to use them _… if pushed_. If nothing else, his resolve and convictions have been crystalized ever since the transformation. At least, that was her opinion of the man. "I knew a little about the K'lar because Thor spoke about them when we were discussing what to do with the rogue Vanir, but I too didn't know they were still alive and much less they could pose a threat to us."

"They could be, but they are also not very important right now," Jack said, clearly understanding they were veering off topic. "Anyway, if you could get enough information from the Aklarians in order for us to be able to make a predictive model of the Scourge's possible point of origin and their spreading pattern through the universe, that would be great!"

"Are we planning on expanding our domain into neighboring galaxies?" she asked. They retreated from the affairs of the Pegasus galaxy pretty quickly. In her opinion, there wasn't much point in spreading into other galaxies. There was no lack of habitable planets in the Milky Way. So, why were they talking about visiting all other galaxies in the Local Group?

"Not really," Jack began explaining. "We plant a supergate and a jump station in each, which is all the galaxies in a ten million light years diameter, in order to be able to deploy quickly if needed. I think that's the bare minimum of neighboring galaxies we need to have under observation in order to be sure there won't be any surprises anywhere near us. Besides that, we do some exploration in each of them to see if there's something of interest, but that's it. As far as colonization goes, we don't have any big plans. Right now we are talking about maybe colonizing one planet in the other two largest galaxies besides the Milky Way, the Andromeda, and Triangulum galaxies. However, the war against the Vargas takes precedence over all this and many other plans."

"Other plans? I see the council has been busy with ideas?" she asked. She felt a little left out, with her job of babysitting the horde of scientists on Asura that she didn't find all that satisfying.

"You have no idea," Jack replied, for some reason looking straight at Sam disapprovingly.

"What? It's not a bad idea," Sam replied, clearly talking about something she did not know.

"Maybe," Jack responded, a little peeved. "I just don't see the point in doing it."

"The point of doing what?" she asked. She was fed up with feeling clueless.

Jack turned. "A few scientists have gotten in their heads the idea of terraforming Mars. And this scientist over here thinks it's a great idea!"

"Well, I wouldn't mind having a second habitable planet in our Solar system. Wouldn't you?" she replied quickly.

"I would too, but do you know what it entails to make Mars livable?" Jack asked.

"Bringing air?" Weir asked. Honestly, she had no clue.

"Yeah. That too," Jack said, but the way he did was clearly implying that _that_ was only the tip of the iceberg. "Mars has only 10.7% the mass and a gravity of 38% compared to those of Earth, which is simply too little. For humans to evolve healthy on a planet, even after _Genesis_ , we need at least 55%-60% of Earth's gravity. Less than that and people would have trouble growing up, and traveling to other planets that have a normal earthlike gravity would become a complete nightmare for them. So, the idea is to collect a few moons, like Io and Ganymede, and redirect them toward Mars. There's talk of taking Mercury too or part of it at least, but there's some opposition to that plan. While we are desperately attempting to increase the mass of Mars, we also slowly move the planet closer to Earth. They want Mars to trail Earth on a slightly wider course around the Sun, some half a light minute from Earth, no more. This would also bring the planet closer to the Sun, which would begin warming it up. This would be a multi-decade project, even with the use of time dilation fields to speed the changes on Mars. Do you get the picture now of what kind of project this would be?"

She now began to understand. They were talking about moving massive celestial objects in the Solar system. She had no clue on how they were even thinking of moving Io from Jupiter's orbit to Mars. And then somehow combine them without causing some cataclysmic reaction on the planet. Ganymede, she knew, also possessed a metallic core, which probably meant that they were planning to use it to give Mars a stronger magnetic field, if they could find a way to transfer said core inside of Mars, of course. Again, she had no clue on how the scientists were planning on actually doing it. Mars also would need a completely different atmosphere in addition to a much thicker one to make the planet livable. Oxygen wouldn't be the biggest problem either, Earth has around 70% of nitrogen present in its atmosphere, while Mars had very little of it. "I think I understand why you're not very enthusiastic about the idea."

"Of course I'm not! We have so many habitable planets in our galaxy alone, all ready to be colonized whenever we want! Mars also has no valuable materials that would make the planet somewhat more appealing!" Jack replied, frustrated. "Why would we ever contemplate terraforming Mars, I have no idea whatsoever."

"It's because it would be a second habitable planet inside our Solar system. The system where the first world is," Sam retorted.

"Well, from the number of people that are relocating to some of our other planets, that means much less than what you think," Jack spat back.

It was true, and she could barely believe how many people were deciding to leave Earth for some of the other planets in the newly formed Terran Federation. Terra Nova and Haven were the premium destinations right now. Asura not so much. It was in another galaxy after all, which apparently was a little too distant for some people. Xi'an, the Chinese colony that gained independence during the Aschen Plague incident was the preferred destination for people emigrating from China. Now that the Jump Station was becoming operational, the number of people able to leave Earth would only increase and would do so drastically. "At first, it sounds like a great idea to have another habitable planet in our Solar system. But, if somebody asked me directly if I wanted to set roots on a terraformed planet with only half or so of Earth's gravity and with probably many other not very appealing characteristics, I would probably have to say no thank you. I would prefer to stay on Earth or maybe choose a planet like Terra Nova. From what I read about it, the planet's climate is amazing. Perfect for retirement in another two hundred or so years. From the way you look, Jack, you might start thinking about a prolonged vacation on Terra Nova. It would probably do you some good. Are you having trouble dealing with all the paperwork?"

"It's not the paperwork that is killing me, but the last few times I suddenly found myself some hundred or so years in the past. Even if I went on vacation, as you've suggested on Terra Nova, I would still time-jump without any warning back on Earth," Jack explained. "Last time it was the twenties. I spent two days chasing that Shrike guy who somehow always leaves the moment I'm getting close. And that's not even the worst part."

"What's the worst part?" she asked.

"The worst part is that with this deranged time traveling business, I'm traveling into the past fully aware that I'd fail because from the historical evidence we know the Shrike Cult has existed for more than two hundred years!" Jack shouted, clearly frustrated.

"You can't succeed in catching him in the twenties if history shows he has existed prior to that point," Weir surmised. "That should _definitely_ get you depresses."

"And I'm even more pissed that every time I'm going back - _God damn!_ \- I'm always half naked!" Jack added, now suddenly sounding very angry. "I woke up yesterday because I was feeling a sudden chill on my back, not understanding why. Of course I felt chilly! I woke up in the middle of an unknown street, in 1921… in the middle of January! I only had my undershirt on me for cryin' out loud!"

She was looking at Jack's exasperated expression, only to notice Sam who was barely able to keep a straight face. In her humble opinion, that was pretty mean of her. Although, she too was having a little trouble keeping from laughing. She made a small cough in order to compose herself. "I sympathize Jack. I really do."

" _Gah!_ Enough about this or I'll get depressed in addition to already feeling completely drained. I think we don't have anything else to talk about either, do we?" Jack asked clearly waiting to see if anyone else had something to add.

"Well, I do have one question," she said.

Sam was faster to ask. "Which is?"

"What are the predictions?"

"Predictions?" Sam asked back.

"For the war. The timetable, and the predicted chances of winning it."

Jack and Sam were looking at each other. Jack was the one to respond. "First, you must understand how little we know of what awaits us out there."

"I know we don't know as much as we'd like, but still, with what we know now about the Vargas and their minions, at least those that we've already fought, you must have come to some conclusions on how this war will proceed. And since you're planning on going on the offensive, you must believe that we at least have a chance of surviving what's to come."

"Yes, we did make some predictions and plans, of course, and we do believe we have a shot at winning," Jack began. "If we look at the Vargas alone, we think that we definitely have a shot at them. Mind you, we don't have their exact numbers and we still believe that in a straight slugging match, they would have such superior numbers that they could easily negate any technological edge we may have acquired with the last few techs researched and developed with the help from the ascended knowledge found in the Clava Thessara Infinitas. Knowledge, we believe, the Vargas do not have. However, if we don't seek direct confrontation unless in a favorable position, we could slowly take them down. It takes a lot of time for the Vargas to build their ships because of that armor of theirs, which means they can't replenish their losses so easily." Jack made a pause, before counting in a more somber tone.

"Unfortunately, the Vargas are not the only problem. In addition to having to deal with countless galaxies in the entirety of the freaking universe, which by the way will make our logistics a total nightmare, we have to deal with an unknown number of subjugated races of unknown capabilities and sizes. It is enough to look at the races that came here and the problems we are having. The Crabs and Hunters are predominantly races meant to fight on the ground, so not much of a problem in space battles. Yet, we are still unable to clear them from even one of the planets they have infested. The Reapers are even worse and definitely a bigger problem in space battles. They are multiplying like a virus and we have no clue on how to stop them. I'm also certain that the Vargas have more minions out there that are more powerful than what we are seeing here and our current warships are all predominantly tailored to fight the Vargas. The Aegis system uses too much power to be used against normal weapons, the same as the QDBs that need to be calibrated for each separate type of armor or shielding system, which isn't always easy to do if the enemy is new to us or if they know how to cycle their shield's modulation or composition. This means that our battlecruisers are not the doomsday weapon some in our Council or Parliament think they are. Not if we have to use them against some other enemy besides the Vargas that uses some advanced technologies we know nothing about."

"I still think that if we can deal with the Vargas, then we will be able to deal with all or most of the Vargas minions. In one way or another," Sam added, confident in the statement.

"I think that too, however, there are those who think that the Vargas are not at the top of the food chain, but more like caretakers for others. To me, they look like machines built by others. They don't seem to have free will and they haven't evolved by an iota in what has probably been a billion or so years. I think the biggest challenge will be when we find who the real masters of those we thought were at the top truly are. From all we know, we could be dealing with another ascended race like the Ori pulling the strings, or maybe even worse. We know that not all ascended beings are the same or that they have achieved the same level after ascending. All this could mean the Vargas might not be our biggest problem," Jack said.

"From the autopsies of the various Vargas and from the observation of the one recently caught alive, most scientists are more and more convinced that the Vargas fill the role of servants or, as Jack said, caretakers. Much, much better than that of masters as initially thought," Sam interjected.

"That's a truly troubling thought," she added pensively. "What about a timetable?"

"Until we learn of a way of hitting them where it truly hurts, the only thing we can do is to disrupt their logistics by closing their anomalies and by taking their minions out. Free those that have been coerced, remove those that have joined willingly. How much damage this will do to them we have no clue, but we think it will take five to ten years to see even the barest of noticeable progress. Hopefully, by then, we will also have a lot of allies and a much better plan on how to end the war. In five years' time, the SGA's Navy is planning to grow to around 50,000 warships, not counting corvettes and fighters, even after taking into account the losses our predicted model tells us we will inevitably sustain. Thankfully, the Asgard use very few people to man their ships and the Edinians are building as many AI-driven Echelon warships as support to their manned ones. Because, if not, their small population would quickly become a crippling factor for us. We can't expect for any of them to have more than five million people in their respective Navies. Meanwhile, if we conscript even five percent of our people, we can easily enlist four hundred million people in our military. For now, we are planning to have one percent of our population enlisted in the military, which means close to 80 million people, But, as our ships and supporting infrastructure, like stations, shipyards, bases, mining outpost, and so on are getting more numerous, there will also be a need to increase the number of people in the military further. With the next batch coming online this month, we will have two hundred and fifty shipyards each with an average of four slips of different sizes for building different classes of ships simultaneously orbiting Pax, the planet given to us by Argos in the Clava Thessara Infinitas. And that's only shipyards in orbit of the planet that I'm talking about. The additional supporting infrastructure on the ground is even more impressive."

"Yeah, I would have never thought that we would turn into such a militaristic race the moment we venture into space," she contemplated at loud. It was all the Goa'uld's fault, she decided. If they weren't there when Earth discovered how to use the Stargate, their exploration of the galaxy would have been much more tranquil.

"Not to worry 'Lizbeth. There is a reason why almost 90% of our military assets are in the Clava Thessara Infinitas besides, of course, that of being in a secure place," Sam began explaining.

"Which is?" she asked, now very much interested.

"It's because the entire Second Great Alliance has agreed to close the Clava Thessara Infinitas for good, the very instant the war with the Vargas is over. Inside, all our excess military assets, as well as access to the ascended knowledge, would be closed until the day it is needed again," Sam explained. "Which, hopefully, would be never."

She was pensive for a moment. "I get the closing of the Clava Thessara Infinitas with all the excess military asset, but, why closing access to the ascended knowledge?"

"Because many are starting to think that we are incapable of inventing anything on our own if we don't have some readily available database to immediately give us the answers we seek. There is also the problem that when you follow the knowledge done by others, you tend to miss the same things the initial researcher had also missed. We will still have access to the ancient database from Atlantis and what the Asgard gave us, but even those will mostly be used for reasons of researching their respective race's pasts in order to learn from their good and bad choices and hopefully prevent us from making the bad ones. After the war is over, we are also switching to more humanitarian types of research, and we want for our scientists to make discoveries worthy of getting them the Nobel Prize. No scientist who simply looked at the answers in some database could ever get a Noble Prize. Or any prize for that matter," Sam answered.

"Also, after the war is over, anyone even thinking of researching some new type of weapon gets canned on the spot. Even I am fed up with the kind of research we are doing now. And if I'm fed up, then it is definitely time to switch focus, and to do so ASAP!" Jack said, pausing for a moment. "However, all this is not very important to you and for your next mission right now. Your job is to get us as many allies as you can and to stay alive while doing so. Leave everything else related to the war effort to the rest of us, all right?"

"Agreed," she said while getting up. "Well, I think it is time for me to leave you two alone to do your work, or for you Jack to maybe go get some rest. How long has it been since you slept?"

"48 hours! Ha! That's nothing for an Alterran!"

"Sure, sure. Somehow your half closed eyes are telling a completely different story," she retorted.

"I'm trying to get him to go to sleep, but he keeps repeating – _'No time, no time'_. I stopped suggesting after the fifth time," Sam said.

"Well, I bet if left alone in his office, he'll fall asleep inside ten minutes," Weir said, now ready to leave. "I hope we will see each other at least one more time before I leave."

"That's a given," Sam said. "Three days from now, Adria, Vala and I have some plans to go down on Earth. You could join us for a girls' night out."

She turned and began walking out of the office. "See you in three days then."

It was time for her to start a new adventure. One as exciting as the Atlantis expedition was at the very beginning.

With a smile on her face, Elizabeth went to prepare with all due haste.

* * *

 _ **Thanks for reading, and please leave a review. They are always appreciated.**_


	17. New Frontiers - Part I

**Author's note:** I prepared so many excuses, but then thought about it a little more and decided to make it short instead. Not enough time, the flu, work, work, blah, and blah... you get the idea, right? Well, still. A new chapter is out and I think the next one won't be so far behind. Still, I suggest to my faithful readers to read this chapter very slowly and to enjoy every sentence. No way I'm able to publish each week a new chapter, so...

 **Q &A:**

 **Random Norwegian:** Before answering, just so you know, I would readily reply through PM if you used your account. ;) Now, let me answer your inquiries.

No, for now, the Terrans are not planning to introduce any other type of ship class. With the Wraith technology that allows them to store a lot of various materials without the need for more space, as well as the ability to swap types of weapons, there is no real need to make larger ships that will inevitably lose when it comes to mobility. Also, ships need to be able to go through the supergate, so no massive ships, sorry :(

Further upgrade of ships is possible depending on how the war will progress.

Well, they are more or less equal when it comes to overall strength of their Navies among the three races. The Terrrans have more people to recruit, so they have more options. However, with high tech, such a problem can be somewhat mitigated.

Be assured, ships will have all the people needed for completing their mission.

If they want to show a more aggressive ship, then they'll send the battlecruiser instead. No brainer here.

 **bloodredmoon22:** Hmm, why indeed. Well, even quantum entanglement must send data through some kind of transfer medium in order for communication to be established, and since we are talking about communication faster than light, who's to say that the aforementioned transfer medium that allows for quantum entanglement to work isn't subspace, right? I don't know of any other that would fit, so...

So, not sure if I wanted to introduce it. By the way, the idea was for the SGA to have some troubles because of the disruption of subspace, and not for a quick solution to return the situation back to how it was. This also means that the Vargas cannot so easily find a solution either, which is a good thing. ;)

 **Chloe:** Both light and radio waves are forms of electromagnetic (EM) radiation. The only difference is in their wavelength. Light goes from 400 to 700 nanometers. Radio waves go from 1 millimeter up to a 100 kilometers! However, the propagation speed is the same for both, which is the speed of light. To reach the hyper limit that is 2 hours from Earth, it would take for both signals, light and radio signals, 2 hours. No way to go do it faster, unfortunately. If we don't use some sci-fi explanation, like subspace or tachyons or something like that, we are stuck with the speed of light as the top speed.

 _ **Thanks to my beta, and happy reading!**_

* * *

It was different than anything she had seen thus far. And she had seen a lot of things since Earth had joined with the stars. She had toured through almost every conceivable type of Terran installation after it had been built, at least once, as well as all of the innumerable warship classes in the Terran ever growing Navy. She wasn't able to board one of the new Battlecruisers, though - the pride and joy of the TSN – but she didn't think a tour of that specific ship would have left her any more impressed than after her visit to the heavy cruiser Damocles. After the visit, she had left with a big smile on her face. It was clearly a complete shift from previously built ships. The Prometheus and the Daedalus were, at the time of their inception, marvels that had miraculously propelled Earth to the stars by freeing them from the shackles of the Stargate. Indeed, a marvelous device indeed. However, it still had its limitations.

Yet, the previous ships had felt somewhat… retro.

When touring those ships, there was a clear feeling of Earth having gained access to some advanced alien tech that propelled them forward in order to reach the stars, yet most of the ship was still made with antiquated equipment, like old-style controls and displays that you'd rather think of finding onboard Sputnik than on an intergalactic warship.

Then, the Damocles was built. A ship that finally utilizes all that the Terrans had learned in the past ten years while perusing through the various databases and combining the acquired knowledge with an infinite amount of imagination the engineers and scientists put tirelessly in the creation of the prototype. It was a marvelous ship, from the outside and the inside, and her personal evaluation of its strengths had little to do with its military might. As a diplomat, she wasn't very interested in that particular aspect, to begin with. Still, even then she knew the ship's primary role was that of a warship. For one, the rooms - no matter if it were the bridge, some other utility room, or private quarters - were all small, very small. It was as if the creators were squeezing every inch of available space to add something that would make the ship more powerful. It was the right thing to do when building a ship of war, she knew that. When you're building a ship of war, you are not allowed to make halfhearted decisions. The ship needs to be powerful, even though the crew might have smaller rooms or the bridge, engine room, or sickbay weren't as spacious as someone would like them to be. Although, if a certain captain who had served on a submarine for ten years was asked what he thought, he would tell you how wasteful the creators had been while making the Damocles' prototype, followed by a few unsolicited pieces of advice on how to squeeze a few more cubic meters here and there. After all, to such a person such as a submarine captain, walking through a corridor much wider than a meter was almost unthinkable when the goal was to use as much space as possible.

Then, the Illustrious came.

The _Illustrious_ was once again a new evolution in Terran shipbuilding paradigm. The ship was truly spacious, so much so that the corridors could be traversed by five people standing side by side comfortably. Rooms for the crew were large, comfortable, and exquisitely designed – the work of a truly qualified internal decorator, she was sure of it even at first glance - and yet, even so, there were enough of them for most crew members to have their own room, with no sharing needed. Something that prior to this light cruiser was only available for the captain and a few other people. The internal design was of a higher standard compared with the heavy cruiser, just as it was the case when comparing the Damocles and the Daedalus. There was simply more the Illustrious had to boast about while compared with the Damocles, a ship that, to her, now gave off a bit of a Spartan feel. Panels, holographic emitters, transportation booths, doors that would open quickly without even letting out a hiss, everywhere she looked she found something placed there as if the designers did not want to leave too many empty places hence making the ship looking plain. In short, the ship was marvelous and it was meant to be clearly displayed that way for everyone coming onboard to see.

"This ship is truly something else," Weir said while walking next to its Captain, James Warren, and looking everywhere around. They were now just in the process of touring Engineering, the last place on the ship of great importance she was being shown today.

"Yes, for someone who spent ten years in the Royal Navy living inside a submarine, having so much space in the engine room… it feels so wasteful!" the Captain replied. It almost appeared as if he was feeling uncomfortable standing in such an open space.

Her estimate was that Engineering was near the size of a football field. On the back were two massive hyperdrives taking a lot of that space. There were two because the Terran policy was to always have redundancy in their systems, therefore having only one hyperdrive would be bad, apparently. Then, there was a transparent wall that separated these two engines from the rest of Engineering at which point two massive Pulse Reactors were only partially visible, with the rest disappearing in the right end left walls. In the middle, there were countless consoles and a buzz of people doing things she didn't understand or cared for all that much. Of course, she wasn't currently on that lower floor. Instead, she was standing on the Engineering's observation deck located exactly above the main entrance to Engineering. Like that, she was having a nice bird view of the whole room. Engineering was also at the very least 15 meters tall, if not more.

"It does somehow look empty. Was this much space really necessary?" she asked.

"Didn't you see manufacturing?" the Captain asked instead as if complaining.

"Ugh, you're right. Compared to that place, this one looks small and filled with equipment. Was it planned to have Manufacturing capable of building new ships there or what?" She said jokingly.

"Actually, that's exactly what the planners thought when they made the plans. It was envisioned for the _Illustrious_ to be able to build ships the size of a Corvette without interfering with normal ship's operations in the adjacent Hangar Bay," the Captain responded.

Building a ship that was almost 30 meters in length onboard another ship wasn't easy. Then the room also had to be connected to the Hangar Bay, with doors big enough for the newly built or repaired ship to easily be transferred there. And yet, even during the process of building such a large craft, Manufacturing needed to be able to build other things at full capacity. As long as the ship had the needed raw materials and energy reserves, they were able to build everything and anything the ship could possibly need during their long journey.

"A ship fully capable to comfortably live on even during the longest of missions while far, far away from home. That's what O'Neill told me about this ship."

"That's correct. As long as we don't run out of juice, we can live on this ship in complete comfort, with a Lounge Bar, holo-rooms, rooms where to exercise, and private rooms in which even entire families could live comfortably."

"Not that we have any families onboard, right?" Weir asked. She didn't feel comfortable having children on a mission that was taking them hundreds of millions of light years away from home.

"No, there are no children onboard, but we do have a few married couples," the captain said while pointing with his chin towards a certain individual on the lower floor. "Our chief engineer Chekov over there is one of them. She's going on this mission together with her husband. Apparently, the husband simply said - _You're not going alone, and that's final!_ He then quickly switched from being a Lt. in the Marine Corps and joined the Navy. He is now one of our best security officers, as well as a very promising tactical officer in training. He scored the highest score in our last simulation with 92% of hostile ships destroyed inside the allotted time, yet he was also smart enough to urge retreat at the right time when the ship's shields and hull began reaching dangerous levels. He's not just some trigger happy guy who's good at it."

"He beat the score of the senior tactical officer?"

"That he did, which ticked off our STO greatly. She spent the next five days in the sim room until she managed to score a slightly better score."

"Well, with such crewmembers it seems our safety is assured," Weir replied.

"No need to worry about that. Both the crew and the ship are top notch. I also think of myself as a very moderate Captain. I'm fully aware that this is a diplomatic mission and that engagements are to be avoided if possible."

"I'm glad to hear that. Especially since this ship isn't on par with other Terran military ships."

"That is true, Dr. Weir. This ship isn't as powerful as the Damocles or much less as the Armageddon. However, you're wrong if you think that this ship isn't a warship through-and-through. You must understand that except for facing an enemy the likes of the Vargas, this ship can hold its own in a battle. Even though it looks luxurious, this ship is many times more powerful than a ship like the old Daedalus. There's simply no comparison between the two ships."

"Yes, I was informed by our High Councilor. However, this ship is also new and has never been in any serious situation, has it?"

"I can concede to that point. However, everything on this ship has thoroughly been tested on other ships before being installed. We had also performed enough simulations and mock battles against other TSN ships to make sure that this ship's fully ready. I assure you that all major systems had been stress tested to their limits in order to make sure everything is ready before we venture into our long-term mission."

"All right, you convinced me, Captain," Weir said, just as the Captain was letting her exit the room first. "And with this, the tour is over I believe?"

"Well, if you're not interested in crawling through some secondary conduits, then there's nothing else of any interest that I can show you," the Captain replied with a smirk.

"No, thank you! Three hours of wandering around the ship were more than enough for me," she said while declining the offer with a pleading smile. Enough was enough.

"Good! Then let's go to the bridge and see where we are at."

The teleportation booth was just in front of Engineering. They both stepped inside it and were immediately taken to a different floor. Just a short walk from there and the doors leading onto the main bridge spread open while making almost no sound. Inside, Weir could see the various consoles. Most of them were facing the front where a massive display was covering the entire front wall and was currently showing the emptiness of space. There, the pilot and the navigational officer were seated behind the front two consoles. Behind them, there were three seats for the Captain, first officer, and for her as the mission's leader. Facing the left wall, there was a console used by the sensors officer and another one next to it for the science officer. On the opposite side of the bridge, there were two more consoles for tactical and damage control. On the back of the bridge was the strategic room - usually used by an admiral and their staff - as well as another, smaller room where the Captain and the rest of the bridge officers could dine without the need to leave the bridge. Of course, not all seats needed to be filled all the time, but since the ship had just begun its first mission, they were all eagerly present.

"Where are we at, XO?" the Captain asked while approaching his seat.

"Five more minutes and I would have called you, Captain," the XO, Jerrold Przemo, replied. "We are on final approach with Sol's Jump Station.

"Oh, that's great timing. Our esteemed leader here hasn't yet seen or used the jump station, has she?" the Captain responded while looking at her.

Weir was just in the middle of sitting down. "From that, I gather that you have, Captain?"

"We all did. During the ship's shakedown cruise."

"How does it feel?" she inquired. She wasn't certain that she liked the various stories depicting the feeling people felt during a jump. Even for short jumps, those of less than a hundred light years that could be accomplished with the ship's small jump drive, even for those they said there was some queasiness felt. For longer jumps done with the help of a Jump Station that sent the ship tens of thousands of light years away, the feeling apparently was even more pronounced.

And she really didn't want to vomit on her first day as the mission's leader. It would be mortifying.

"Nothing to worry. It is a little uncomfortable for a moment but nothing you can't handle, Dr. Weir, I'm certain of it," the Captain reassured her with a confident smile.

"Captain, the station has received our initial handshake. All is green. Our request for a jump has been acknowledged and the station has initiated the jump procedure. Five minutes until the station is ready to assist us. Since we are the only ship in the queue, the station will wait for our signal to initiate the jump," the ship's astrogator, Jill J. Taylor, instructed.

The level of cultural and ethnical diversity on the bridge was impressive. The Captain, James Warren was a Brit. The XO, Jerrold Przemo, was a Polish man of strong build, 6' 3" and 191 lbs., and only 28 years of age. The astrogator was a 29 years old petite woman named Jill J. Taylor, British nationality just like the Captain. But then, there was also Seiko Nishigaya, a Japanese woman of only 23 years of age and already the senior science officer on the ship. The pilot was called Guy Craig, a Scott with only 21 years behind him. He was no more than 5' 8" in height and around 150 pounds. A small guy, but they all say that he has incredible reflexes. Something very good when you're the ship's number one pilot and apparently the only one onboard who was participating in the Psionics program. His specialty was foresight. Nicole Carvalho, sensors and communication officer, 29 years old, Brazilian. Rupert S. Beeler, damage control, Australian and Libby Muir, senior tactical officer, 31 years old, also Scottish like the pilot, were the last two people that formed the A-Team on the bridge. Of course, there were many other nationalities present in the rest of the crew, and she liked to think how this was truly a Terran crew instead of a crew predominantly comprised by people from one single Earth nation. And since this crew had already spent a few months together, she wasn't worried about them not being able to perform their duties together with anything less than top marks.

"Take position at the designated slot, and wait for the station to fully charge," the Captain responded.

"Aye, sir," the pilot, Craig promptly responded.

It was incredibly convenient to have the Jump Station. Even with their fast hyperdrives, it would still take them hours to reach the location of the supergate. Instead, the jump station would instantly toss them in front of it. "Are we going to dial the supergate right after we get there or?"

"Our escort is already waiting for us in front of the supergate. There's no reason for us to delay our departure from the Milky Way galaxy, is there?" the Captain answered.

That was certainly true. The Sphere had left more than fifteen days ago and had already laid a supergate inside the central galaxy of the Aklarian Dominion, a galaxy distanced from here more or less 233 million light-years. It was named G233-S0-4, with the first number showing the approximate distance from the Milky Way galaxy. The letter 'S' meant that it was a spherical galaxy and '0' a subtype. The number '4' was there because it's the fourth galaxy that had been classified at the same distance of 233 million light years, just in a different direction.

So, even though the distances involved were mindboggling and difficult to truly grasp, it took very little to jump to where the supergate was and then reach the destination through it. Actually, the most time-consuming portion of the voyage was traveling from Earth to the hyper limit, which normally took half a day at cruising speed.

"Station is charged and ready," the pilot responded. "Engaging assisted jump in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… Jumping!"

The sensation wasn't as bad as she'd initially feared. There was some discomfort present - that was true. The sensation of weightlessness accompanied by a slight feeling of being squeezed through a too small tube for comfort. However, it had also lasted a mere second at the most before the sensation stopped, with the frontal display suddenly showing the supergate floating in front of a black hole. It was amazing to think that today the sight of a black hole wasn't a breathtaking spectacle anymore. Yet, a decade ago no one from Earth could have ever imagined seeing such a sight during their lifetime.

"Helm, plot course for the supergate and be ready to dial," the Captain ordered.

The ship steadied its course and slowly pushed forward. Of course, there was no sensation to be sensed onboard. It was only the fact that the supergate was steadily increasing in size that she knew they were moving forward.

"Sir, our escort and light support ship are acknowledging our arrival and are asking to join us," Nicole Carvalho, the sensors officer informed.

"Granted," the Captain responded. "Initiate Battlenet with the other ships in the fleet."

When more than one ship is present and they form a formation, the Battlenet is a system designed to instantly share data between them. This way all the helms would receive the trajectories of the other ships, while the communication and sensor officer would share other data related to issuing commands in the hierarchy, receiving important notifications, and sharing sensors data from all ships. This was incredibly valuable since the sensors of the Illustrious were an order of magnitude more precise than those of the three Defiants that have just joined the fleet. Much less the sensors of the lonely support ship whose only role was to perform repairs or mine for needed materials during long-term missions.

"The three Defiants and the Builder ship have joined the fleet. Battlenet is now fully active," Carvahlo responded.

The Captain waited for a moment as if to think if there was something else they needed to do before departing. "Well then. I think it is time to leave the Milky Way galaxy. Dial the gate, Lieutenant Nishigaya. Let us go meet the Aklarians."

It took no time at all, probably because the science officer had long ago created a macro to dial the supergate the moment the captain would order it. Piece by piece, the supergate began cracking with energy. When the last one was finally charged, the massive gate through which even large capital ships could pass began forming the watery-like surface of the event horizon. The following explosion was as spectacular as ever.

"Captain, the gate is open. We are now on final approach," Carvahlo stated.

"Sir, I suggest to switch to formation Epsilon, and to raise readiness condition to condition three," the tactical officer, Rupert S. Beeler, informed as per procedure.

Condition 5 was when the ship was in full standby. It meant that the ship had all of its major systems shut down. This was the condition usually used when a ship was docked. Condition 4 was when the ship traveled normally through space. In order to maximize energy consumption efficiency and increased durability of the used components, shields were kept at a low 20 percent and the powerful main energy capacitors were charged at only 60% of their nominal sustainable amount. Of course, the weapons were also shut down and the crew wasn't under any special order or need for heightened alertness. Condition 3 was when they were about to enter a zone they did not believe would be dangerous, but still, caution was welcomed. As such, the shields were put to a 100% and the various capacitors were slowly raised to their 100% capacity. Still, the crew was under no obligation to stop doing what they were doing and run to their battle stations. Condition 2 was when the crew needed to be ready for battle and all system were readied at above 100% – the main capacitors were overcharged at 150 or 200%, depending on the ship's capabilities and sensors were fully active and scanning the surrounding - yet, the weapons were still kept silent. Condition 1 was full alert, all systems were put into overdrive, weapons hot and ready to do whatever, whenever, and all crew members were to return on active duty no matter if it were their shift or if it wasn't.

The Epsilon formation was a standard formation in which the escort ships would surround the main ship - or ships - with at least one ship scouting ahead. In this instance, with only three escort ships available, one was sent flying through the gate, the second ship was standing in front of the Illustrious, 15 degrees starboard and 15 degrees below, and the last Defiant was standing behind the support ship, 15 degrees on the port side and 15 degrees above. With such a formation, both the escorts and the main ships had the chance of firing at an enemy without getting each other in the way and it would be easy to split or change formation as needed.

Weir had to learn this and many other things so that she would know immediately what was being said on the bridge. It was because she, as the leader of the mission, would have the right to ask for explanations from the Captain whenever she needed it and the Captain would be obligated to answer her per command protocol. However, asking such things in crucial moments could distract the captain and the crew from whatever they were doing at the moment. And that was something she shouldn't do. She shouldn't become a burden on the bridge.

"Proceed, Commander," the Captain responded simply.

Only moments later, a single Defiant sped faster than the rest of the fleet and not even a minute later it disappeared inside the event horizon as the first to go through.

"Defiant One is responding with, 'the coast is clear', sir," Carvahlo responded not even a minute later.

"Helm, proceed through the supergate."

"Aye, sir."

The event horizon was steadily getting closer and closer until it was the only thing the frontal display could display. A second more and then they were through. In a blink of an eye, they had crossed 233 million light years. She was having trouble believing it. She also had trouble believing the same thing the day when she had traveled 3 million light years to the Pegasus galaxy for the first time, but now it was almost a hundred times that distance. If they had a telescope powerful enough to look back at Earth from this distant galaxy, they would see an Earth that had dinosaurs crawling on it because it would be showing images of Earth from 233 million years ago. Of course, such a powerful telescope did not exist and she doubted enough light from Earth had even reached this distant place without degrading or receiving some kind of interference from other celestial bodies and phenomena. Still, it was weird to her to suddenly be so far from home. If the supergate decided to stop working suddenly, there was no way of traveling back home, as even with the last tech this ship had, its hyperdrives would still burn out a long time before reaching their destination. The Illustrious' hyperdrives were capable of crossing around 50 million light years before needing a thorough overhaul. They could maybe be pushed a little more, but 233 million light years was simply too much for them to make it. Not to mention the fuel would run out. Although, that could be mined from some asteroid easily enough by the light support ship that accompanied their ship.

"We have reached our destination, Captain," the sensors officer informed.

"Good! Keep Condition 3 for now and also give me whatever you can about this galaxy - passive scans only. Also, send it to the strategic room," the Captain ordered before looking at her. "Dr. Weir, if you would like to follow me. XO, take command."

"Coming," she replied quickly, getting up and trotting towards the back of the bridge a few steps behind the captain.

There, in the back, a room that could be isolated with a glass wall awaited them. Inside it, there was a large table in the center with chairs placed sparsely around it. Yet, the captain chose not to sit on any of them. She decided to follow his example. In a few moments, a hologram sprang to life above the table. She immediately knew what it was projecting. "So, this is the home galaxy of the Aklarians."

"Probably. Maybe it isn't. We know that this is one of the seven core galaxies under their ruling, but the information we salvaged from Liam's ship isn't that detailed, and the Aklarians could have also lied to him. Because of it, we must proceed with caution and think that what we know may not be the real situation."

"Agreed. Still, our course of action is already set. We follow the path that Liam followed and left us in his logs."

"Yes, but not blindly. Computer, overlay information we have on the artificial anomalies Liam recorded and the location where he met with the Aklarians."

Without a response from the computer, the galaxy immediately began showing red regions where the recovered information from Liam's ship recorded the distortions in time and space. Regions where the laws of physics were somehow dangerously skewed. "It is not much."

"True, the information we have on the anomalous regions is minuscule, but that's not what worries me. Even with that, we can easily plot a course that would lead us to the location where Liam met the Aklarians."

"So, what's the problem then?"

"The problem is that this information is outdated by more than two years. As you know, the Aklarians have the ability to change the places with anomalous regions, like reshaping a 3D labyrinth on a galactic scale. It is possible that the information we have here is not the current state of the anomalies in this galaxy."

"What's your suggestion then? Do we proceed with caution?"

"Yes. We limit our traveling speed while scanning ahead. We also send one of our escorts to scout before us. I'm also thinking of leaving the builder ship and two Defiants here. No need to risk them needlessly."

"I get leaving the builder ship, but why two escort ships?"

"The builder ship can't protect itself. Therefore, I think that two escorts need to stay here. Also, one escort is certainly needed to scout ahead while we travel, but more than that would be needless. We are in a galaxy ruled by the Aklarians who, as far as we know, have as many as 200,000 ships at their disposal, which means that if they behave aggressively, the best for us is to step back instead of engaging in combat. And we can step back with two ships the same as with three, can't we?"

She actually liked his answer. If it were Sheppard or Caldwell - or god forbid Ellis - they would want to have as much firepower with them as possible, no matter the fact that using said firepower was ill-advised in the current situation. Instead, Warren wanted to take as fewer ships as he could, knowing very well that using force is not an option in their current situation.

"I like it," Weir responded. "Let's proceed in this way. How much time will it take to reach the meeting place?

"I would like to say no more than half a day, but I actually don't know how much we'll have to slow down our traveling speed because of those dangerous regions."

"Well, then. No time to waste. You may proceed at your discretion, Captain. Meanwhile, I'll stay in the strategic room and work on a few things while you do your job of getting us there. Woolsey should join me as well."

"Yes, ma'am."

She watched as the captain went back to his seat, quickly followed by him giving several instructions to the crew. As she made herself comfortable on one of the chairs around the table, the ship soon entered hyperspace on its first journey through this distant and completely unknown galaxy. Woolsey also showed up shortly afterward and joined her in the strategy room. They went one more time through the materials they had on the Aklarians, the little they had, in an attempt to make sure that nothing was omitted. Then they spent a few hours trying various scenarios of when they would begin negotiations, simulating what the Aklarians would do and what their best response should be. It was more a way to pass the time than to actually come up with something useful since the Aklarians were too much of an unknown to know what they will or won't do.

They also had a very nice lunch, until unfortunately, an incident occurred. The escort, the Defiant One, bumped into one of those chaotic regions where the laws of physics didn't cooperate the way they should. The damage to the ship wasn't great, but they quickly realized that the Defiant, with its weaker sensors, wasn't the best choice to be ahead of the Illustrious. Consequently, the Illustrious had taken the lead, ahead of the Defiant. It was better this way. If not, they would have had to slow down their traveling speed even further, which would have prolonged the voyage for several more days at the very least.

Fortunately, there were no more problems and after a good night of sleep and a large breakfast, they were finally there.

"Captain, we have arrived at the designated coordinates," the helm informed the Captain. Not even a second after that, the hyperspace tunnel disappeared and the ship was once again in normal space.

The captain didn't ask the crew. Instead, he looked at his display. He was probably looking at where they were exactly. Weir mirrored his action, looking at her own holo display that was floating on the right side of her chair. She could be using lenses or glasses that could display whatever information she wanted instead, but she had the bad habit of leaving her glasses everywhere and she hated lenses. For some reason, most crew members were also reluctant to use them as a display hood and rather used the holo monitors. The only crew member she knew that was using this all the time was the science officer. She had opted to implant the system directly in her retina. She would never do that.

The ship was listening to her thoughts through the small earpiece she was wearing on her right ear. She had thought about her holo display showing her the same thing as what the captain's display was showing, truly mirroring what he was watching. The display was showing their position inside a foreign star system. There was clearly a star that looked the same as their Sun, and there were many planets circling around it. The display was also showing the habitable region around the star. It was a band between 9 and 12 light minutes from the star in which habitable planets were possible. As far as she could see, there were two of those inside the band and both looked like habitable planets. Their ship was somewhere around 11 light minutes from the star and clearly inside the band, yet nowhere near any of the planets in the system.

And then dots began appearing. Lots and lots of dots.

"Contacts!" the sensors officer yelled.

"I can see them, lieutenant," the Captain responded calmly. "I also see that none of them are close to us. Continue passive scans. Let's build a clearer picture of what we have here."

Impressive. The moment the sensors officer shouted _'contacts!_ ' her heart skipped a beat even though she had already noticed the dots popping up on her display. She almost wanted to shout 'red alert!' for some reason, however, the captain immediately replied with incredible calm. She understood that there was no reason at all for panic to take over. All those ships were so distant that there was no way of them being inside anyone's weapons range. Even with the illustrious' powerful sublight engines, it would still take a lot of time to get near any of the detected clusters of ships.

Still, she had to admit. There was a lot of clusters present in the system.

"I have some tentative data, sir," the sensors officer informed. He waited until the captain nodded at him to proceed. "There are two habitable planets in the system, a colonized moon orbiting the gas giant approximately 37 light minutes from the sun, and other habitats spread throughout the asteroid belt located between the gas giant and the habitable zone."

The system wasn't all that different from our Solar system, except that there was a habitable planet here in place of Mars, and the overall number of planets didn't match. Also, the second habitable planet was nicely trailing the first one about one light minute away from it. It was probably a little colder there than on the first one, but it was still deep inside the habitable region which meant at the very least it was possible to live on it around the equator.

"There's a lot of radio chatter in the system, sir, but… no subspace communication whatsoever," the sensor officer said.

This was quite peculiar. They were here to meet an advanced race capable of creating a massive dominion that spanned across many galaxies, yet, there was no subspace?

Something was wrong.

"What about all those ships clustered together between the two habitable planets?" the Captain asked.

She hadn't noticed it until now, but it was true that there were two pretty large groups of ships close together. Upon sending a mental inquiry to the ship's computer she got back some more details. Both groups were more or less the same size of around a hundred ships each and closing their distance at a slow pace.

"Sir, they are moving quite slowly for space travel. They are also slowing down in relation to each other. 4 gees deceleration," the sensors officer replied.

"Captain, this to me seems like a standard zero-zero approach," the tactical officer butted in.

"Hmm, yes. It appears that way to me too," the Captain responded while nodding. From his expression, it seemed as if he was contemplating something.

These people were having a nice informative conversation that apparently was explaining everything easily. However, she had no clue whatsoever what was going on or what the crew knew and that she didn't. She also didn't want to start asking questions while they were busy thinking. It would be rude of her. For now, she decided to adopt the same contemplative expression as the captain next to her while making small nods as if she was capable of following their conversation while coming to the same conclusion as they did. This was somewhat vexing.

"Still, 4 gees deceleration?" the XO joined the discussion.

Apparently, 4 gees was an important clue to what was going on. Yet she couldn't fathom in what way exactly. Were 4 gees good or bad? Maybe she should have studied more about space travel. However, the part where she could ask things from the ship's computer without everyone knowing could help her. The computer wasn't truly intelligent or anything, but it could give her the right information if she asked the right questions. So, she thought about a ship acceleration and deceleration. Suddenly, the holo display showed information about the Illustrious, from its overall shape to many other parameters. Among those parameters, there were three that were blinking in red instead of the normal neutral white on a dark background. The first was the continuous acceleration, the second was the max acceleration – sustainable for one hour at most – and the third the burst acceleration – available for five minutes only. The first was 640 gees, the second was 820 gees, and the last was 922 gees. From this, she could conclude that 4 gees were very low for a ship.

"No inertial compensators it seems," the Captain responded while stroking its beard.

 _'What's that?'_ She heard about inertial dampeners, but what were inertial compensators? _'Again, let's ask the omniscient ship's computer for a quick answer.'_

Quickly, the display showed both the information on what an inertial dampener and compensator were. Apparently, a dampener's job was to seemingly lower the ship's mass. Seemingly, because the mass didn't actually lower, whatever that meant exactly. It appears it was just that it seemed that way while the ship was accelerating. With a lower mass, the force applied by the engines needed to be lower as well to achieve the same result. Apparently, the inertial dampener could lower the ships mass by tens of thousands of times. On the other hand, an inertial compensator was a component that reduced the force excreted on everything inside the ship caused due to acceleration. So, a human body wouldn't be able to survive the 650 gee of acceleration. The crew would simply turn into goo. The compensator's job was to lower the applied force inside the ship by even more than a few tens of thousands of times. It was because of that that she had never felt much of an acceleration aboard any of their ships. The 4 gees of acceleration mentioned the unknown ships were under was something a human body could survive even under a prolonged period of time. If she added that there was no subspace chatter in the system, she could come to a conclusion of what the captain was discussing easily enough.

It appears that these people were barely space-capable. She understood that much now, yet, she had the feeling that the captain and the rest of the crew understood more.

"The tactical officer's assumption seems to be correct, sir. Those are clearly warships and there are detectable differences between the ships in the two distinct groups."

Differences between the ships? This was probably another very important clue, she thought. Well, it didn't take her all that much to understand why this was an important clue. If warships had differences in their construction, it meant they belonged to different factions. Since they were warships, it also meant that they were going to fight each other. The zero-zero intercept meant they were going to slow down so that they could slug it off to their heart's content apparently.

"They are going to fight?" she muttered the question without even realizing it.

The captain turned. "If our little analysis is correct, yes, they seem to be preparing to do exactly that. They also seem to be on level 2, technologically speaking. Space capable, yet unable to leave their star system."

Warren was showing her what was displayed on his monitor. Since she had to spend time asking the ship's Wikipedia about things, she inevitably had stopped mirroring his display. Maybe it was better if she had continued doing so because the information displayed was about the race in the system. She decided to mirror his monitor once again. Now, on her own display, she could see the tentative data about the only intelligent race present in the whole system. Habitable planets seemed packed with them. A clear sign of overpopulation. They were grey bipedal creatures of approximately five feet in height and there were billions of them. The population density was much higher compared to humans on Earth, especially now that Earth's population was slowly falling due to the great colonization efforts being done in these past few years.

The largest planet had more than 15 billion people living on it while the other one, the slightly smaller planet, had around 5 billion. The moon orbiting the gas giant and the asteroid belt also had close to another billion living souls. It seemed that real estate was at a premium in this alien system. Yet, regrettably, they didn't have the technology to leave it in search for greener pasture.

"Captain, I'm detecting dozens of satellites spread evenly throughout the system. They possess a different level of technology than what the natives possess. The satellites possess active subspace sensors, long-range subspace communication, and stealth technology effective enough to hide them from the natives of this system," the sensor officer reported.

"I think I now know how Liam met them. This is a system the Aklarians are monitoring. This race is probably too primitive or too much of a hassle for the Aklarians to want them in their Dominion," the Captain explained his theory.

"Which explains the satellites in the system monitoring the situation," Weir finished the theory. "However, this also means that this probably isn't the rendezvous point Liam and the Aklarians set up. Instead, this is where they met for the first time. We had the wrong information."

"With the deterioration of the data Liam's ship had sustained, it is a good thing for us to successfully have retrieved this much. Otherwise, we would have to wonder the galaxy searching for them. Not something I'd want to be doing, especially with the galaxy filled with those chaotic regions," the Captain added.

"We'll still need to do it regardless, won't we?" Weir asked.

"Don't think that will be necessary. We can safely assume that those satellites have recorded our arrival in the system and have or, if not, will eventually send the data to the Aklarians. When that happens, I'm confident they'll send a ship to investigate," Warren answered.

They were going to repeat the same thing as what Liam had done. It wasn't ideal. The Aklarians didn't know them, their ship was different than Liam's, and they didn't know their language. Not the way she liked conducting business when the fate of their races was at stake. If, instead, they had the right rendezvous coordinates, that alone would give the Aklarians a clue of who they were. "So, our next move is to sit tight and wait."

"Exactly, Doctor Weir. It also appears that we are very soon going to have a nice spectacle in front of us. Which means, we will be collecting some nice data on a race incapable of leaving their home system while also being plagued by a severe case of overpopulation. Our xenologists back home will probably debate over the data we collect here today for decades to come," the Captain added.

It sounded cruel when she heard it say it. The way the captain confirmed how they were going to watch while these people killed each other right in front of them. Yet, she didn't retort back. They were not here to intervene – and they didn't have the right to do it either. It was their system and stopping them from waging war wouldn't help anyone besides their conscience. In order to truly help them, a lot of time and effort would be needed. She also knew that the moment their business with the Aklarians was over, her ship would leave the system as well as the entire galaxy, possibly to never return. "I wouldn't call it a spectacle, Captain, but I get what you mean. So, what do we do now exactly, except for waiting?"

"Not much. As said, we wait and we also let the Aklarian see through their spy satellites how we have no intentions of leaving the system. Yet, we also show no sign of aggression toward the natives. Hopefully, it won't take too long before a ship arrives to check us out."

She nodded in agreement. There was not much else to do then than to wait, patiently.

Time slowly passed by. On the many monitors on the bridge, the crew – her included – were reading a myriad of data the scans of the system were returning. The ship was collecting broadcasts in order to learn as much as possible about the system's native race. By now, the ship was able to create a language conversion matrix capable of instantly translating the alien language, which helped things greatly. With that, she was now able to watch some of the collected materials. From that, she was getting a decent picture of what kind of people they were and what was currently going on in the entirety of their system. The natives indeed were having trouble with their overpopulation. Their homeworld was smaller than Earth, yet they were packed with double the number of individuals. Simply too many for the planet's ecosystem to handle. Because of it, the value of life on the planet was very low. Moreover, the second planet, the one that had been colonized some fifty years ago in an attempt to somewhat diminish the severity of their overpopulation problem, had stopped accepting colonists in an attempt to prevent the planet from suffering from the same problem. Essentially, the planet had declared independence and apparently it had done so pretty smartly, only after having successfully built a strong Fleet capable of defending them and having worked out some nice deals with the people living inside the asteroid belt and the distant moon. Apparently, the way they achieved independence and survived was due to an advantageous new discovery of an improved inertial compensator that was capable of achieving a slightly higher acceleration without the crew suffering the consequences. The crew of the Illustrious were unimpressed, since to the Terrans an inertial compensator that compensated for accelerations below 10 gees wasn't something even worth mentioning. Yet, to the people of Ufronoe, the second planet, it gave them an advantage in most battles because their largest ships were able to accelerate faster by 1 meager gee. Quicker repositioning of their fleet elements, the ability to accelerate faster in order to pursue or, if needed, escape, and the ability to make tighter turns in crucial moments without the crew ending up pushed into their seats under unbearable force. It was giving them an enormous advantage they had exploited in order to retain their independence for the past five years.

Of course, the other side didn't just take it. The people of Gloth, the race's homeworld, had a bigger industry capable of building the needed military assets in order to return Ufronoe under their ruling. They also had much more people to toss in this war. She didn't know the details of how her crew got the information, but it seems that the people of Gloth had been able to develop better missiles than their counterpart. It seems the science and tactical officer worked hard and broke into one of Gloth's military mainframes from where they had promptly sucked all kinds of data to be perused through at a later time. She didn't know how to feel about this clear case of data theft perpetrated by their part, and it was casting a dire picture of her righteous Terran Federation. She only knew that they were now doing the same thing to Ufronoe's mainframes and there was no remorse to be seen on their faces. She didn't even know when they had sent the needed stealth probes that had then reached the two planets and were now used in breaking into whatever system they deemed interesting breaking into. She really had a diligent crew, she had to admit that much.

To steal so much data in such a short time, it was truly praiseworthy.

Sarcasm aside, she didn't spend all of her time watching broadcasts. She was also watching the two fleets still going to collide. They were decelerating hard in anticipation for the battle to come. The Glothans had almost 20% more ships, while the Ufornoeans were clearly decelerating faster.

Then, it suddenly began.

Missiles were fired from the hundreds of ships on both sides as if they had an inexhaustible reserve of the exploding things. At slightly more than 30 gees, they sped towards the opposing side with complete abandon. It would still take a while before they reached their target, even with their much higher acceleration compared to the still decelerating ships.

"Are those nukes?" She asked.

"Some," the Captain responded. "They are firing thousands of missiles so they probably don't have all that much plutonium in their arsenal. As you probably know, plutonium is not present in nature except in small quantities or in places near recent supernova explosions. After all, the material is radioactive, with a half-life measurable in the hundreds of thousands of years, which is very little compared to the time stars are formed and destroyed in supernova explosions."

"Yeah, I knew that much even from my time back as a diplomat brokering deals between countries on Earth. Plutonium is produced artificially inside special nuclear reactors. All four transuranic elements are," Weir responded, happy of knowing such things. "So, what kind are the other missiles?"

"They seem to be penetrator missiles. In a similar way as our HEAT missiles that are meant to penetrate the armor of tanks, these missiles also have the task to bust the armor of capital ships and cause internal damage. There is also the damage caused by the sudden decompression once the outer hull is breached."

She more or less knew the principle behind a HEAT missile, so she wasn't about to ask for a more detailed explanation. Still, the wireframe image on her monitor of one of the natives' capital ships was showing a layered armor, probably meant to protect the deepest parts of a ship even after the outer layer had been penetrated. "How effective could those missiles be?"

"Alone such a missile wouldn't do much damage. However, we are talking about thousands and thousands of missiles being fired. The damage simply piles up." As the captain explained, a new barrage of missiles was fired, but those were different. "Those are interceptors meant to thin out the incoming missiles. They will probably target nukes first as they pose a greater threat. The probes we have there are also detecting ECM being fired from both sides in order to confuse the missiles and force them to lose their locks."

There we so many lines on her monitor depicting the missiles' trajectories that she didn't know exactly where to look. The interceptor missiles were locking onto incoming missiles only to lose the lock caused by the enemy's ECM, only to regain the lock a moment later. It was now a battle of components. It was a question of whose side had the better propulsion, electronics, ECMs, ECCMs, and adaptive algorithms to the constantly evolving situation. They would probably come out victorious.

The fired interceptors were doing a very good job, a much better one than what she believed they would. There weren't many nukes to being with, but now, after the encounter with the interceptors, those remaining nukes on both sides could be counted on her fingers. From the initial number of missiles racing towards both sides, they were now halved and far below one thousand. She was sure that those remaining would do a lot of damage, but then the point defense systems begun chewing on the remaining missiles. She had to admit, the defenses on both sides seemed better than their offensive arsenal. The missiles were slowly being removed from the battle theater.

"Will any missile even reach their targets or will they all be eliminated?" Weir asked.

"Some will, but not many. Our predictions are usually below two percent of our missiles reaching an enemy with a similar technological level that has strong point defense systems, such as the Vargas for example. I think the situation here is similar since they are the same race hence technologically speaking they are very similar," the captain explained.

"Isn't that a little too little. It seems wasteful to fire so many missiles for such an outcome," Weir retorted.

"True, but it is also a way to hurt the enemy while still far outside the range of the ship's main weapons. No matter how small the impact, it is still better than nothing. In the Battle of Eden, against the Vargas, there were a few barrages we fired that contained tens of thousands of missiles. Yet, only a few hundred missiles reached their intended target. Many would think of it as a total waste of resources, but the truth is that with that barrage our ships had to deal with a dozen or so less of the Vargas most dangerous ships. Those capable of firing their antiproton beams and slicing through our ships in one go."

She didn't even think of the Battle of Eden, even though she knew what had happened in great detail. She had watched the recreated battle many times and knew exactly what the captain was talking about. "So that's how it is. Essentially, it is wasteful, but you still have no choice but to do it."

"That's right," the Captain responded absentmindedly while watching at his monitor. "Look! They are now entering the real fight. Now that they are finally entering into weapons range."

She could see it too on her holo-display. She was trying to understand what the two fleets were doing, without truly succeeding. There was some complex maneuvering, it was clear enough, but why they were doing it, that part wasn't clear to her. "What are they doing?"

The captain was intently looking at his monitor. Maybe he didn't like her asking questions at this point, but she really wanted to know. After a while, the captain's expression changed as if he had finally understood what was going on. "Well, you can easily see here why the Ufornoeans investing in their inertial compensators was a good thing. With their ability of higher accelerations, they are now able to better position their ships. Essentially, what they are doing is position their ships so that most of them are able to confront the top left corner of the other side's wall formation once they clash."

"And why is that an advantage?" she asked. She could possibly come up with an answer on her own, but since the captain was in the mood to explain, why not listen instead, right?

"Because it doesn't matter how many ships the opponent has, but how many are able to engage at any given moment. You see, with the Ufornoeans targeting only this upper portion, the battle will be with all of the Ufornoean ships firing while more than half of the other side will be unable to fire back. Even though the Glothans have more ships, they will have fewer weapons firing during this first clash."

It happened as the captain had predicted. Half of the Glothans formation was unable to fire at the enemy. On the other hand, the Ufornoeans were able to bring all of their ships' weapons to bear. It was two fleets coming across each other in just a short moment, even though they had spent so much time decelerating, and then they began separating from each other once again. Of course, the engines were working at full power in order to reposition the ships in both fleets and prepare for the second clash while, for the moment, still drifting apart.

The monitor was updating with damage reports from both sides. Short range missiles and heavy railguns had done the damage and there were a few ships now drifting out of formation due to extensive damage to their propulsion system. When the fleets are large, targeting engines is a very good strategy since those ships will immediately fall out of formation, hence they will be out of the fight even though their ships are still in a good fighting condition. There were now dozens of ships drifting out of the fight, and if the other side ended up victorious, they would later be targeted and destroyed easily enough.

"You were right. There's more damage on the Glothan's side even though they have more ships," Weir acknowledged.

"True, but not as many as I thought there would be. It seems the Glothans have better railguns capable of causing more damage. Which makes sense, since they were here in the first place."

"What do you mean?"

"The Glothans are the aggressors. They are the ones who are trying to reach Ufronoe, which means they were the ones who decided that what they were sending was a large enough fleet to succeed. There is no way their strategists didn't run simulations while taking into account their adversaries' better acceleration capabilities. They must believe that their increased firepower and a slightly greater number of ships will compensate for that, and from what I'm seeing, it does. Still, in the end, it will be up to their respective admirals to come up with a winning strategy. That's what counts the most."

In the meantime, the two fleets were preparing for the second skirmish. However, it seemed there was no difference in the two formations, except for the Ufornoeans this time targeting the lower right edge of the enemy's wall formation. However, the captain seemed excited for some reason. "What is it?"

"Do you see the Glothan ships on the edges of their wall formation having slowed down a little compared to those in the center?"

It was barely noticeable. "Yeah, somewhat. What of it?"

"I bet they are going to change into a box formation. Maybe even towards an elongated box formation. If the change is sudden, the opposing force might be unable to graze only the outer edge of the formation as intended. Instead, the Glothans would be the ones who would pierce their formation with their trailing elements. Since the Glothans had more ships to begin with and also had better railguns, this could be very dangerous for the Ufronoeans. Having better maneuverability is something I prefer over firepower, but the commanding officer must be a quick-witted guy or else his advantage can evaporate in an instant."

Weir looked at what was going to happen. Then she noticed that at the same time as the Glothan formation began shifting the formation of the outer ships, those located on the borders, falling behind, the other side had also begun changing course. It seemed the Ufornoean CO had anticipated the Glothan strategy and was changing course in order to target only the trailing elements, those that were falling behind.

The captain also saw it and smiled. It seemed he was rooting for the Ufornoeans for some reason. "Yep, the Ufornoean CO is good. And he did it at the right moment. There's no time for the Glothans to change their formation. They will clash as they are now."

Warren was good, she had to admit it. She wouldn't put it past him to get a promotion to Admiral after this mission was over. She wasn't an expert, but from what she could see the man was good at strategy. The man was almost wasted as a mere captain. Although, since there was no Admiral in this little task force of theirs, as the most senior captain, he was the one in overall charge. And he was also right about the outcome of the battle unfolding in front of their eyes. The Ufornoeans had once again caused greater damage by targeting only the trailing elements of the enemy formation just at the right time, giving no time to the enemy's CO to reposition their elements. If things continued like this, it wasn't difficult to predict who the victor would be. They two fleets were once again licking their wounds while drifting apart.

It was just that, this time, they were drifting apart quite a lot, which was strange. "Is this some new strategy of theirs that I'm not getting?"

The captain was watching intently as well. "If it is, it is not one I ever saw before."

It seemed they were not preparing for a third skirmish like the last time. However, the vector was beginning to change, of both fleets. "Where are they going?"

It took a moment before the captain sighed deeply. "Here. They are coming here because they've noticed us. This is probably the fastest truce I've ever seen."

"Here? Aren't we in stealth?" Weir was asking. She wasn't sure of anything at this point.

"That would have defeated the purpose of us being here, wouldn't it? We came here and exited hyperspace in the middle of the system with the intent of being noticed. When we learned that there are satellites the Aklarians are using to monitor the system, the most logical thing was to remain visible so that they could clearly see what we are doing, showing them clearly that we have no hostile intentions. The problem is, I didn't think the natives would be able to pick us up so quickly without having subspace sensors."

"So, they've somehow seen us, and now they are coming in force?" Weir asked.

"Yes, ma'am," the sensors officer responded first, clearly having something more to add. "And the fact that we've been noticed is spreading like wildfire. Actually, the two fleets were not the first that reacted. There are ships from the asteroid belt and from the main planet that are also coming here."

"Are they coming to greet us, or fire at us?" Weir asked.

"No way to know at this point. Not that it matters, though," the Captain answered.

"Meaning?"

"Doctor Weir, our ship is capable of nearly one thousand gees of acceleration and the ability to enter FTL whenever we want. They, on the other hand, will spend the next day or so in order for the closest ships to come near us. Whatever they try to do, they cannot intercept us if we don't want them to."

"So, let's say that we push our ship on a nice elliptical trajectory around the star at an easy 100 gees of acceleration. Do you think the aliens would get the right idea how it is impossible for them to catch us?" Weir asked. There was no point in letting these people run here for no good reason.

"We could do this, but that could possibly create an even greater panic."

"Why?"

"Because, up to this point, we are a single alien ship inside their home system that they are trying to reach. However, if we do what you've suggested, then we become the single alien ship inside their home system that's capable of a ludicrous acceleration of a 100 gees. At least, that's how it would look from their point of view."

It was true. If an alien ship entered Sol and began doing things thought impossible, all on Earth would freak out. "So, what do we do?"

"Nothing whatsoever. We said we would appear to be as unthreatening as possible and that's exactly what we are going to do. If inside a day the Aklarians are still not here, we can begin slowly inching away from them when the time comes."

"All right. It makes sense. Pretty boring, but what can you do, right? It's weird to say it, but I was somehow disappointed their battle got interrupted. Even more the fact that we are responsible for it. In the end, we meddled in other's affairs anyway. Maybe it's destiny for us to always do so."

"True, but I somehow think that we'll have many opportunities during this mission to witness similar battles," the captain replied.

"Well then, since there's not much of any interest happening right now, I'm going to get some rest. Once the Aklarians show up, I don't think I'll have such a luxury."

"Very well, Doctor Weir. If something noteworthy happens, I'll call you right away."

"Thank you, Captain," she responded before getting up and leaving the bridge. It all ended pretty anticlimactically and now they will probably have to spend many hours or even days waiting for the Aklarians to come here.

Better to spend that time sleeping than worrying.

* * *

 _ **Thanks for reading. Please leave a review. They are always appreciated.**_


	18. New Frontiers - Part II

**Author's note: I was able to put another chapter out sooner than intended. Still, I must say, this evil chapter that talks about too many things turned out** **bigger than i thought. So big in fact that the next one isn't going to come out anytime soon. Except for ideas, I have nothing written after this.**

 **Well, I hope you like this chapter as well, and also thanks to my beta for helping out.**

* * *

Weir was deeply immersed in her thoughts. It had been quite the first encounter and for the first time in a long, long time she had felt that she was facing a superior opponent when matters of diplomacy were concerned.

"They weren't how I imagined them," Weir said to the assorted group of four people currently seated in the strategic room in the back of the bridge. Of course, she was referring to the Aklarians.

Freyr turned and looked at her. "Explain in what way."

"Since we are dealing with a dominion that rules over others, I had the image in my mind that they were more arrogant people," Weir explained. "I made a quick assumption based on my preconceptions towards a dominion."

"That is still to be determined if true or not," Freyr continued with her monotone voice. "The same way you think that you made the wrong assumption the first time, you may be making the wrong assumption now as well."

"When you are facing an intelligent and wise alien race, you must expect them to be able to always display what they want you to see instead of the truth," the Alterran, Loran, added.

"You think they are being duplicitous?" Woolsey asked Loran.

"Truthfully, I do not," Loran answered. "However, I cannot be certain of that after only one meeting that lasted no more than five hours."

It had been a long meeting, and yet, it had been too short to grasp the Aklarians true nature, their hidden motives, if they had them, or much less the whole truth behind their vast dominion. After the alien race in the system they had just visited discovered their presence and stopped their skirmish, a game of cat and mouse began in which the aliens, the cats, had tried to intercept the Illustrious, the mouse, only to every time lose it by a small margin. The game had lasted 32 hours and change before three Aklarians ships showed up and finally made contact, effectively ending their reason to stay in the system.

Thankfully, they knew the Alterran language, which had facilitated the whole introduction process and had prevented any misunderstanding from forming at such an early stage. Then, after a short conversation via video call, the Aklarian representatives came onboard the Illustrious and the five-hour long meeting slowly began. Many points were touched, mostly about what they had already stipulated with Liam. Interestingly, even though they stated that most of the data Liam had sent had been lost, the Aklarians didn't try to take advantage of them. They had promptly given them a copy of the recordings of their conversations with Liam, which she and the other members of the SGA had quickly perused through.

She was startled at first but then realized how smart that move really was. The Aklarians might think they were testing them and that, in truth, the data was never lost, which would have put them in an awkward position if they had tried to take advantage of the situation. Reason enough to play it fair. However, she also believed that this wasn't the main reason why they did it. It was just a feeling, but she thought that the Aklarians wanted to gain the upper hand in these negotiations without the need for deceit by hiding things or by lying on what went down between them and Liam. They wanted to get the upper hand thanks to their strength and not the other's weaknesses. There was also another reason and that was because she felt that the Aklarians had already received from Liam what they wanted and there was no need to risk everything that had already been stipulated by getting caught in a stupid lie. She also had a hunch that they thought very highly of Liam, as someone who shouldn't be crossed without a very good reason.

"I think that Liam laid 90% of the groundwork for us. Also, this alliance is something the Aklarians clearly want, and not just because of the few technologies Liam promised them," Weir concluded. "I also think that their ethical principles are not all that different from those of us Terrans. However, I do think that they are much more experienced when it comes to dealing with alien races. We are still very young when it comes to xeno-diplomacy."

"Elizabeth, it is to be expected for the Aklarians, a race that has traveled the stars for the past hundred thousand years, to have more experience than the Terrans who have done so for barely twenty. It is possible, due to the incredible number of sapient species inhabiting this region of the universe, that when it comes to diplomacy with alien races the Aklarians have more experience that even us Alterrans." Loran added. "I also agree with you that there shouldn't be much of a difference between the Terrans and the Aklarians. At least, that is my impression after this short first meeting."

"I'm not sure that I agree," Woolsey protested. "Putting this first meeting aside, a meeting in which we could have easily be fed a bunch of lies or half-truths, what we know for certain is that they rule over other races, whether they want it or not."

"Richard, didn't you see the data coming from Earth related to the people's opinions on where we are at and of their expectations from us the federal government?" Weir asked.

"Which part exactly?"

"The part that many have stated publicly that we, as in the Terran Federation who has become a superpower in the Milky Way galaxy, should be the one to _'guide'_ the other human worlds. In my opinion, the only difference between this _'guiding'_ the people on Earth were talking about and the dominion the Aklarians have here is that the Aklarians are at least honest on what it truly is."

"If you listen to what people on the streets of Earth think and want you'll get a million different things, one wackier than the last. From those same polls, a good chunk also expects for the next tech release for lightsabers to become available," Woolsey said.

He got her there. However, "When people were asked to choose if we should stay mostly isolated, make alliances, or be the ones to write policy in the galaxy in order to correctly guide other human worlds, more than fifty percent chose the third option. I'm not talking about a few percents of people who want lightsabers. Those people would probably manage to cut their own fingers clean off if we gave them such weapons anyway," she concluded, actually a little startled by the fact that if they wanted they could actually make them lightsabers. It would probably turn chaos on Earth.

"I didn't know it was such a high percentage," Woolsey responded, looking a little perplexed now.

"It is normal for humans from Earth to choose the option that seemingly gives them the greatest rewards. Being in charge, ruling over others, indeed it often gives the best benefits," Loran said. "And the right path isn't to dissuade humans from thinking that way either. It would be like forcing humans to go against their very nature. Instead, the right path is to teach humans that being the one in charge doesn't give the most benefits. It only gives more obligations."

Freyr then continued. "The way people on Earth think right now is because your race is still a very young one. One that still knows of poverty and knows of the struggle to provide for your basic needs often only attainable by taking wealth from others. However, people of Earth must begin to realize the technological progress you have made and that material possession are now easily obtainable for all. No more hunger and no more poverty. No more negative emotions like envy because your neighbor has many things while you have barely enough to provide for your family. When we talk about an entire race, the change is even greater. There is nothing Earth can gain from, as you have called it, 'guiding' other human worlds that the current technology you possess cannot easily produce. The only thing you need to be mindful of is greedy people who, no matter how much they have, will always want more. Those with an insatiable appetite for the material can still disrupt a harmonious living of even the most advanced of races if left to fester and thrive."

It made sense, she thought. Don't try to go against human nature, not forcefully at least. Instead, teach people that letting others live their lives free is the best way since everything humans on Earth could possibly want can be obtained from their own resources and the advanced technology they already possess, instead of exploiting others. And she knew of the problems an insatiable appetite for possession of material things can cause. She has the same problem, at least when it comes down to shoes. An insatiable desire to buy just one more pair on sale. "I think we are getting off topic here."

"I believe so as well," Freyr added. "What is our estimated time of arrival?"

They were traveling to the supergate in order to use it to travel to the other galaxy with a supergate, also part of the Aklarian territory. The galaxy was located on the fringe of the Aklarian territory where they were trying to clean up the Scourge menace. An arduous task, apparently.

They were going to show the Aklarians how to use the supergate to travel between the two galaxies and in order to get a peek at the Scourge. They wanted to get a feel for what kind of threat they represented. "Now that the Aklarians are traveling with us, it won't take long. The ship says it will take us approximately ten more minutes.

"Knowing where those chaotic regions are, allows us to travel at a much greater speed," Woolsey added. Then turned to look at Weir. "What do you think about their build-up in military assets?"

The Aklarians weren't stingy when it came to showing what they had accomplished after their meeting with Liam that had happened almost two years ago. "In this little amount of time they had increased their Navy by an impressive 15,000 warships, and all the ships have an intergalactic hyperdrive installed. They are prepared to send all of them in the first wave, whenever and wherever we want them to. Our ships are technologically more advanced than theirs, but, still, there is something to say about numbers too."

"Numbers we can't match right now. Not even if we combine all the available ships from our entire alliance," Loran stated.

It was the sad truth. They simply didn't have so many ships, even if they sent all of them to the very last one. Things would now start to slowly change since they have now finished building an impressive array of shipyards. However, they were still limited by the number of trained officers who were supposed to command those ships. Even with the accelerated training program through the use of virtual reality on other gadgets, they were still falling short. She was sure the Aklarians would be very useful in filling the ranks. "They will probably be more useful in this first stage than us. Right now, we are not planning to directly engage the Vargas. Just their minions. Here the Aklarians greater numbers will shine more than having more advanced ships."

"The Aklarians have also agreed to send as many ships as it is needed in order to break the Vargas allies' back, however, only as long as we keep our promise of dealing with the Vargas directly when the time comes," Woolsey added.

It was a good deal for the Aklarians who had many ships, but when it came to facing the Vargas warships, they were a bad match. On the other hand, the SGA didn't have the numbers to face all the threats present out there in the vastness of space. "We are both getting what we require the most at the moment. The Aklarians are getting an ally capable of facing the Vargas, and we are getting the numbers we desperately need."

"I agree," Freyr concurred. "From what we were able to retrieve from Liam's logs, there are several more races we can expect them to be very helpful in this war. However, I do not believe any of them will have the same numbers as the Aklarians do. Their empire is indeed vast."

She had to agree. They have established a presence in more than 40 galaxies, with seven of them forming the core of their empire. There were trillions of them and trillions more in races that had become part of their huge dominion. If nothing else, they won't have any trouble manning all those ships they are sending. She then suddenly thought about the race they had met not even two full days ago. The Aklarians had explained that they do not interfere with races who have yet to join the interstellar community. She was also astonished to learn that there were hundreds of such races the Aklarians were currently monitoring without interfering. Races unable to leave their home star system.

Liam did mention on a few occasions that discovering a way of faster than light travel wasn't an easy feat to accomplish. The Aklarians also added that they had seen many races never achieving such a feat, even after thousands of years of struggle to leave their system. He said that the main reason for that was luck, or rather, lack thereof. Unlucky enough to be born inside a system that did not have Naquadah in it, therefore, forced to develop fusion reactors instead still powerful enough to create a hyperspace window. Such reactors were very difficult to make, and that would make any type of testing any FTL prototype ship all that much more difficult and expensive. Then, if you added the highly theoretical nature of the physics involved in developing hyperspace travel, and it wasn't strange at all that some races were unable to come up with a viable FTL drive even after hundreds or thousands of years of sporadic attempts all resulting in expensive failures.

Weir snapped from her thinking as she sensed somebody entering the strategic room. It was the captain.

"Five more minutes and we are at the supergate," the Captain informed.

The information was clearly meant for her. She needed to join him on the bridge. "I'll join you in a moment, thank you."

As the captain went outside, she asked if anyone wanted to join her but nobody was too excited about the idea. They had been present during the meeting with the Aklarians, but now they didn't show any interest. Not that there was much to be excited about either. After dialing the other galaxy, they would be once again entering hyperspace and would then travel for half a day more in order to reach the edge of that galaxy where there were a lot of those Scourges the Aklarians were fighting present. Indeed, their presence on the bridge was superfluous. Hers was necessary only because they were going to pass the supergate's dialing protocol to the Aklarians and let them dial for the first time. It was an event that she needed to attend.

While everybody else remained in the strategic room to talk a little more, she went to the bridge and sat in her usual seat. It didn't take long before the blue tunnel on the frontal display was replaced by the blackness of empty space. The ship then turned a little to port and she could now see the supergate floating.

"Sir, the Aklarians are hailing us. They are asking for the dialing protocol as agreed upon during the meeting," Carvalho informed.

"Send them the prepared package, Lieutenant," the Captain ordered.

It took very little before the reply came. "They acknowledge receipt of the package. They are also asking if they can be the first to go through the gate."

The captain turned towards her, waiting for her approval. She didn't quite understand why they wanted to go first, though. Well, if the Aklarians were feeling adventurous, why not let them? "Fine with me."

"Inform them that we agree. Also, inform them that one of our Defiants will follow behind them as our scout. Also, send the order to Defiant One to do it."

The information was sent and took a little time for the Aklarians to go through, to them, the unknown protocol. Suddenly there was movement. She could see on her monitor that the Aklarian ship was speeding towards the supergate. It happened almost at the same time as the supergate's components began cracking with energy, one after the other. The Aklarian ship was now finally visible on the main display. Their ship was bigger than theirs and from what the captain said it was certain the ship was a warship through and through. Unlike their ship that had its weapons emplacement hidden - making it look more like a diplomatic vessel or meant for exploration than as a ship of war – the Aklarian warship boasted an impressive array of larger and smaller weapon ports. Of course, they did not know their ship's performance, much less the performance of their weapons. They had used only passive scans as it would have been very rude to actively scan every inch of their ship on their first meeting.

"What do you think of their ship, Captain?" she asked.

"I'll answer in the same way my tactical officer answered when I asked," the Captain looked at her and then answered with one single word. "Utilitarian."

"Utilitarian?" she wasn't sure how he came to such a conclusion, or what it meant exactly.

"There isn't much we can find out about their ship without actively scanning it, which is something we clearly cannot do to a new ally. What we know is from using our passives in order to scan its surface and by collecting data from the various energy emissions originating from inside it and are not shielded. First comes the ship's outer appearance. Rough edges, nothing at all has been smoothed out whatsoever, and the main stage was clearly prepared for the various weapon emplacements. It looks like everything else, like secondary ports, sensors, communication dishes, etcetera, etcetera, all have found a place on the hull only after all weapons and shield emitters had been placed on the best spots first. As aesthetics goes, I would give it a barely sufficient mark.

"Then comes the various energy emissions we are able to detect. There is no subtlety in them nor areas with any kind of dampening effect. The emissions are just blasting from everywhere and the energy signatures of the reactor and hyperdrive both show rough spikes. There's no finesse to be found anywhere."

"So, what you're telling me is that the main points of this ship are probably its low building cost, short building time and built with predominantly peak military performance in mind."

"Exactly! More than what's the case even with our heavy cruisers. Among all our ship classes, I believe that's the most utilitarian class that we have. One with brutal offensive power in as a small package as possible and in no small part achieved by pushing everything else, like comfort or other unrelated functionalities, far, far behind in second place. Also, you said it right. From its appearance it is very clear that they were trying to design a ship that is very easy to build, hence why it almost looks like a glorified brick," the Captain said.

It didn't look like a brick, not exactly, but it wasn't far from it either. This ship also had no landing gear or anything that would allow it to fly inside an atmosphere. All things that would take additional space and made the ship cost more if added, and also questionable if they would ever be used. "But that isn't all that bad. Compared to their ship, ours look like a gorgeous limousine. No wonder the Aklarians that came onboard asked us if this was a warship or not. I have the feeling they would have asked the same question if we came with one of our battlecruisers, though."

"True, the battlecruiser has been polished to the last detail. I admit it doesn't look very utilitarian. Not on their level of utilitarian at least," the Captain replied while pondering about it for a while.

"Don't get me started with the budget for those ships," she replied, thinking how expensive that particular ship class was. The Armageddon was an amalgamation of best comfort, intricate design and top performance, all wrapped into a very costly package. The people in charge were thinking of maybe designing another ship class, a sort of Armageddon on steroids, but with the cost and build time remaining approximately the same. They were planning to achieve that by removing everything deemed excessive. It would probably turn out into a similar brick like the one the Aklarians were riding on. It would be a battleship class of almost 1.5 times the length of the Armageddon, massively automated in order to minimize the crew size, and with very little comfort compared to other ships currently in active service in the Terran Space Navy. No holo-rooms, Lounge Bars, and other recreational facilities. It would be a crude ship, but very effective in what it was meant to do.

However, there were many who were opposing the idea of such a ship seeing the light of day and she was actually one of those people against it. The reason for it was very easy to understand. There was simply nothing the battleship could have that the battlecruiser didn't already. Internal space dedicated to storage wasn't such a problem anymore, ever since the introduction of the Wraith storage system. All of their ships were now having even a separate system to swap weapons whenever needed. Also, the main power source during battles were not the main pulse reactors, but rather the large high energy capacitors that stored a large amount of energy and of course the onboard ZPM. Although the battleship would be able to have a larger capacitor capable of storing more energy, the ZPM would still remain one and the same. And they could not spare more than one of the precious devices per ship either. Even with many charging stations, they had built thus far near black holes or in hidden places throughout the Milky Way and Pegasus galaxies where the charging was done with the Arcturus reactors, they were still building ships faster than the charging of the ZPMs was proceeding.

Therefore, each of the battlecruisers was getting one ZPM charged at only 80 percent. The rest was up to the ships to slowly charge over time, if at all possible. Even the Heavy support ships that were part of every task force, like the one Sheppard was leading, among other things had an Arcturus reactor dedicated to charging ZPMs when not traveling through hyperspace, a place where the reactor, unfortunately, didn't work. And yet, it still wasn't enough. Every ship class had its own different ZPM type, perfectly matching the ship's distinct energy production capabilities so that when not under stress, they could be recharged. The Navy knew that if the war was delayed by another ten or twenty years they could build enough charging stations and stock up on enough ZPMs to give larger ships more than just one. Unfortunately, the Vargas would not give them so much time to prepare.

The idea of using more than one ZPM with a low charge also wasn't feasible because a ZPM had a higher power output the more it was charged. So, the effect of using even ten ZPMs all at ten percent charge was lower than the effect of one fully charged ZPM. All this was making people think that building a bigger ship yet being unable to provide the necessary power output for it was a fool's errand. The battleship would have more weapons and would have to sustain a much larger shield. The ship was also a bigger target, all quickly summing it up to the ship needing at least twice the power output of a battlecruiser in order to be as effective.

It was true what many high-ranking officers were saying what the biggest problem in this war would turn out to be. It would be logistics. Too many ships, too many places, and too many resources needed by all of them. Even here, in the vastness of space, an army still traveled on its belly.

"Sir, the Defiant One has gone through the event horizon," Carvalho informed, which snapped Weir from her thoughts.

She was waiting now, the same as the rest of the crew for their scout to inform them that on the other side the coast was clear. However, the expected message wasn't promptly sent back like all on the bridge were expecting. Even the captain was starting to frown in confusion. Give a ship a minute or two at the most and they would inform you that the rest can safely go through the supergate. That was what would usually happen.

Then, the reply finally came.

Carvalho frowned. "Um, sir, it seems Defiant One has stumbled on some aliens on the other side."

"Details, Lieutenant. I need details," the Captain urged.

"Seven ships of unknown configuration. The Aklarians have opened communication with them, but the captain of Defiant One is informing us that they are unable to understand each other. It seems their translation matrix isn't succeeding either," Carvalho explained.

"I think we should all go, the sooner the better," the Captain said after only thinking for a short moment.

He was clearly asking for her opinion. Since the Defiant One was already facing the unknown aliens in a potentially dangerous situation, it was slightly murky on who was in charge now. Usually, she was the mission leader who makes the ultimate decision, but when it was clearly a hostile situation, the highest-ranking military officer in a fleet was the one making the tough call. "All? Even the support ship?"

"Yes. The more ships we have, the lesser the chances of the other side making a rash decision that they would regret later," the Captain responded with a slight smirk.

He was a more moderate military man than the likes of Sheppard or Ellis, but there was still that fire in his eyes that tells you clearly, _'don't screw with us or else'_. "Sure, sure, let's do that. As long as we can make peaceful contact, I'm fine with it."

"Go fleet-wide, set Condition Two, formation Epsilon. All ships are to travel through the gate," the Captain ordered.

Orders were given and ships began to move forward. The Illustrious and the support ship were following Defiant Two while Defiant Three was keeping watch at the rear. Condition Two meant that the reactors were turned to max and the shield and main capacitors were being overcharged. The only thing still dormant were the weapons, silent and still kept hidden behind hidden ports on the hull. However, even those were put on standby in order to bring them quickly online. They were as ready as they could be. Now the point was to understand the other side and to find a peaceful way to solve whatever was troubling the aliens. "How have alien ships turn out in front of our supergate that has been laid here only three days ago?"

"Not a clue," the Captain said, then turned to his right. "Lieutenant Nishigaya, any guess?"

The young science officer turned, looking annoyed. She clearly didn't like the captain saying that what she was doing was nothing more than pure guesswork. "It has been mentioned that the Sphere creates a strong disruption when it emerges from the created jump point. It is possible that an advanced enough race, if close enough, could detect the event and come investigating."

"I like it! Good guessing!" the Captain said with an evil grin. He was apparently doing it in order to tease her.

Weir looked at Nishigaya. It seemed as if she was mumbling something to herself while pouting. Now she knew why the evil captain liked to tease her. The usually expressionless youngest officer on the ship looked quite cute right now. The rest of the crew seemed to like it too. She also understood that the captain must have done it in order to alleviate the tension that had quickly begun building up on the bridge. It was the first time the crew was going towards a potentially dangerous place.

The Illustrious passed the gate's event horizon and suddenly emerged in a different galaxy, 12 million light-years away. The frontal display quickly showed both allied and unknown alien ships floating in front of them. There were seven alien ships, just as it had been reported. Four were only slightly bigger than the Defiant, another two were around five hundred meters in length and then there was one slightly bigger than a kilometer in length.

"What can you tell me about those ships?" the captain asked while turning to look at his tactical officer. He was the one who would need to make a threat assessment.

"The smaller ones should have the same role as our Defiants, fast attack ships. Those medium sized should be cruisers. I can detect a dozen weapons ports, but without going active with our sensors I can't say more than that. The last one doesn't seem like a warship. I would guess it is more like a motherships class. Only smaller weapon emplacements are visible on the largest ship, but it doesn't seem like a carrier. There are no detectable hangar openings."

"What about their strange look?" the Captain asked.

"It seems they are mostly organic, sir. There is armor plating made of a metallic alloy put on top, but underneath all their ships are predominantly organic. Though, unlike the Wraith, I can clearly detect emissions indicative of a Naquadah reactor as their main power source. There are two other sources of hard emissions indicative of two smaller fusion reactors."

"A mix of organic and inorganic shipbuilding pattern. First time seeing it. Usually, races prefer one or the other, but never both," the Captain said.

"There are some compatibility issues, however, if those are solved the combination of the two can give quite amazing results," Nishigaya added.

"Yes, as far as guessing goes, yours isn't a bad one," the Captain added.

The woman was pouting again. Apparently, calling her deductions and her way of reasoning a mere guesswork was her kryptonite. The captain must already be on her shit list because of it. No gift for Christmas

"Carvalho, let's tap into the discussion the Aklarians are having with the aliens," the Captain said.

It was all broadcasted in the clear, so there wasn't a problem listening to it. Half of the main display showed the Aklarian on his bridge while the other half showed the alien standing on his bridge. At this very moment, Weir knew that she had failed as a diplomat, and possibly she had failed in other ways as well.

Her carrier had begun as a diplomat who had worked hard trying to broker deals between countries on Earth that were not in the best of terms. She was very successful at her work, so much so that she had been accredited as the one responsible for preventing several wars and even broker a few peace treaties among others who already were warring against each other. She had been very satisfied with her work and she thought she would continue doing the same thing for decades to come. However, fate had a different idea of what her future held. The call from her President came out of the blue and she was suddenly informed that Earth was just a small speck of dust in a very vast universe filled with countless such specks. Even worse than that, humans were spread throughout their galaxy on countless worlds.

A new adventure was starting for her, one in which her first job would be to deal with the Goa'uld, beings who should apparently be locked up in a loony bin and the key then tossed straight in a black hole. However, once you understood their motivations, it was possible to steer them to get what you wanted. Of course, only if you had the right tools, which at the time were a bunch of very powerful weapons left on Earth by the Ancients, as well as the friendly Asgard, always ready to back them up but also always preoccupied with one crisis or another happening somewhere in their corner of the universe.

Afterword, she had met many races, some she liked, other she didn't, but she always managed to get the best out of any meeting. To get what she wanted and solve another possible crisis, it was what she thrived for and at what she excelled at. There were also bad times though. The most difficult moments she had to endure were, of course, the times in which she had to directly deal with the Wraith. A race that looked at you as if looking at a cow they were preparing to eat raw. A tasty piece of meat, just that and nothing more. It was unpleasant, but it was her job to deal with them in order to get the best outcome possible.

Today, she had reached a point in which there was no doubt in her mind that she couldn't deal with these aliens, no matter what.

From the moment she saw them on the main monitor, in full view, she wanted nothing more than to send a marine in one of those overpowered power armors with an oversized broom to smash to death that overgrown cockroach who was currently in the process of making incredibly disgusting sounds. She thought that maybe it wasn't the computer that couldn't translate their language. Instead, the computer was probably refusing to do so out of disgust!

And she also knew that she had failed as a proud woman, as she had no doubt that, if the moment came when God forbids, a diplomat had to be sent on that alien vessel, that she would, without a second thought, send Woolsey – _a man_ – to deal with the almost five feet tall cockroaches instead of going herself.

She suddenly shuddered as she saw one of the cockroaches in the back suddenly dropping on the floor on all six before quickly scurrying through a low, dark opening on the bottom of the bridge's back wall. She suddenly had the clear image of a cockroach running under the fridge the moment the lights were turned on.

She took a deep breath before turning towards the captain. He didn't look any better than she did. He was clearly thinking of doing something bad. Something his instincts were telling him it was the right thing to do. She coughed, "It seems the aliens are getting more and more impatient, at least that's my impression from how their antennas are swinging madly while they are producing those screeching sounds."

"Ah, I truly don't want to look at them for long enough to know how wildly they are moving their antennas," the Captain stated honestly. "Why isn't the translation matrix working?"

"Unknown, sir. It is having the same problem as with the Gadmeer. The syntax and the too subtle nuances in the various screeching sounds are proving to be troublesome," Carvalho said.

The captain wanted to say something but the tactical officer was faster. "Sir, from the logs I retrieved from the supergate, the aliens came here two days ago. They tried to approach the supergate but when the dampening field the supergate generates prevented them from proceeding any closer, they decided to open fire instead. The gate didn't respond in any way because it didn't flag them as a serious threat."

The supergate was directly tapped into the black hole, sucking as much energy as it needed. There was no way that what appeared to be third-rate aliens would be able to do anything to it. Why was she thinking of them as a third-rate race? She didn't know anything about them, yet she couldn't but to belittle them for some reason. It must be because of how they looked. It must be because they were the distant cousin of the cockroaches they have back home and that humanity is trying to exterminate from time immemorial.

Then the illustrious shook.

"Why us? Of all the ships present here. Why did they fire on us?" the Captain said puzzled.

She too wasn't certain why the first shot was directed at them. They were not the ones who were talking to them, were not the first ship that came through the supergate, or the last. They were not the biggest ship or the smallest. "No clue, Captain."

"From their point of view, we are the least menacing," Nishigaya intruded. "We are the only almost completely white ship, the brightest of all six ships present here, and we have no visible weapon protruding out of our hull."

"I think, our science officer is onto something," the tactical officer added.

"So, the aliens are bullying the weak, is that it?" she asked. The Terrans had put a lot of effort into making their ship look non-threatening and the result, apparently, was an enviable success.

"I don't much care," the Captain said. "The only thing important to me is that they opened fire on us while we didn't even take our weapons out, much less charged them."

Did the captain want to clean the universe of cockroaches? He seemed resolved. "What are the Aklarians doing?"

"They are not doing anything. They are not powering their weapons either," the Captain said.

"So, they are waiting to see what we do. We were the one to be hit, so it is up to us to make the next move. Whatever that move might be."

"Well, if it's up to me, why not go all out?" the Captain said.

Since they were near the supergate, she knew exactly what 'going all out' meant. The supergate was connected to a black hole and a certain scientist had developed a way to transfer energy through a high-frequency subspace band. It meant that all Terran ships could easily tap into an unlimited power source. She was sure they could deal with these aliens with ease. There was no way these cockroaches could penetrate their shields while their ships were receiving additional power from the supergate. The supergate also had other surprises if needed that would make the aliens' chances of victory plummet even further. However, there was also something she wanted to avoid. Besides, she was still of the opinion that they were against some trigger happy, third-rate aliens. "Captain, could we not go all out. Could we instead just let the Defiants deal with them?"

"Why should we go easy on them? Even though our shields didn't drop even by one percent, we shouldn't go easy one someone who attacked us unprovoked."

"You clearly misunderstood me, Captain," Weir said, smiling. "I just don't want to let the Aklarians know any of the hidden cards our supergates have, not at this point at least. The Aklarians are surely capable enough to detect the transfer of energy from the supergate to our ships if we use it. As far as these cockroaches go, do please send them to the afterlife, Captain."

The captain seemed stunned. "I have a feeling that you really don't like them."

"I really don't. And since they fired on us first, unprovoked I might add, I don't have to like them either, do I?" In her career she had to deal with many races she didn't want to deal with but nonetheless she had to for the sake of peace or some other gain for the Terrans. This race wasn't among those she would deal in a diplomatic way and it was their fault.

The captain turned and took a deep breath. "Fleet orders are as follow. All ship set to Condition One! The support ship is to stay behind the Illustrious - we will provide protection for it. The three Defiants are allowed to fire at will at the affronting alien fleet and use whatever tactic they deem necessary for achieving total victory! The Illustrious will share its active scanning of the hostile fleet for better resolution. Also, I authorize the use of the neural net. To all Defiants, good hunting!"

The neural net, the system that allowed all the crew members on their smallest ships to merge and become one with the ship. Incredible response time, the ability to make maneuvers so fast that under normal circumstances a crew would die from in an instant, and the ability to sense the surroundings directly through the ship's sensors.

It was definitely going to be a nice spectacle to watch.

She wasn't disappointed. Not even two minutes later, during which the aliens had fired once more, the three Defiants exploded forth as if they were on fire. They all passed near the closest of the four alien attack craft in an instant, quickly unleashing true hell upon it. After their pass, the alien ship was just a burning husk. The aliens probably still didn't understand what was going on when the next victim had already succumbed to the Defiants' mad rush. It was one of the larger ships this time. A cruiser. It instantly had its shielding on its port side penetrated under a concentrated barrage. Heavy damage was also inflicted on the suddenly unprotected hull.

"Miss Muir, if you would," it was all the Captain said.

Four plasma lance rushed from the Illustrious, striking at the unprotected port side of the already damaged alien cruiser. Miss Muir, the tactical officer, was quick to react, she had to give her that.

"We already had the technological advantage but these aliens are really making it easier for us," the Captain said with a hint of disappointment mixed in.

"How are they doing that?" she asked. She wouldn't usually ask while the ship was in battle conditions in order not to disturb, however, the atmosphere was so relaxed and most of the fighting was done by the Defiants that there was no real reason not to disturb the captain.

"The pulse quantum disruptor weapon the Defiant uses is best when it can be calibrated for a specific target. Because of it, the weapon displays much better results against armor than shields simply because once you know the composition of the armor, the PQDs were unbeatable. However, when used against shields, they _usually_ need to be set to a much wider spectrum in order to encompass all the shields various modulations, which makes them less effective. And I stressed here the 'usually' part because that's not the case here. The aliens are not changing their modulation and frequency of their shields even by a little, which makes it very easy for us to detect their composition. Making quick recalibration of the PQDs for maximum efficiency becomes very easy."

There was more to shields than she knew, or even wanted to know. Apparently, shields were not just a bubble that protected a ship no matter what. There were settings, modulation, and different frequencies as well. All things she didn't care much about, except the part where the aliens had screwed up, making their job easier. The four plasma lances fired at the unprotected side had done massive damage to the ship, completely disabling it and leaving it spinning on a strange axis. On her monitor, there was data informing her that the targeted ship's main reactor got damaged. They were lucky it didn't blow up right away. Not that it would help them much in the end.

In the meantime, the Defiants were continuing with their devastating dance. A hit and run tactic that was quickly turning the enemy ships into floating junks while they were barely able to score a few meager hits at the elusive Terran attackers. The crew of the Defiants was working really quickly. They were probably trying to quickly finish the job as it would mean spending less time hooked in the neural net. Less time spent inside meant less time spent feeling sick afterward.

The aliens were turning. The big mothership and the other cruiser that didn't sustain crippling damage were opening a hyperspace window, leaving this place the next instant while the two remaining, smaller ships, were being dealt with by the Defiants. Those two would not get the chance of opening a window and escape. "It seems the aliens turned tail."

"Smart choice. Unexpected after their moronic opening act, but still smart given the outcome. I still don't get why they fired and why on us specifically. At least wait ten minutes to learn how to communicate with us first, and only then get your ass kicked," the Captain stated.

He was clearly enjoying this more than he should. However, it was true that with this, they had shown the Aklarians what they were capable of. It should alleviate any concern the Aklarians might have had about their abilities.

Speaking of the devil…

"Sir, the Aklarians are contacting us," Carvalho stated.

"Open a channel," the captain ordered.

On the display, the same Aklarian with whom they had dealt with the most during their five-hours long meeting appeared. The Aklarians looked similar to humans, just with a gray skin color and with more pronounced and sharper facial bone structure, especially on their foreheads. "Congratulation on your swift victory. It appears as an easier solution than learning their language."

"Thank you. They were foolish enough to open fire before being prepared or fully committed to what that act entails. They should have at least waited until after learning to speak with us."

"Yes, I agree," the Aklarian said, then stopped for a moment with a pensive look on his face. "Captain, I must apologize, but we won't be able to search for the Scourge at this moment. We need to go back in order to bring some reinforcements now that this new race has appeared. I promise to deliver all available data in regard to the Scourge the next time we meet."

"Agreed," the Captain said. "The truth is that we are slightly behind our schedule, so we will proceed with our journey as well. You can expect a battle group will come to your galaxy in two weeks' time. You can give them the data about the Scourge."

"Yes, by then the first wave of our ships will already be waiting in front of the supergate. Hopefully, together, we can successfully oppose the Vargas nemesis," the Aklarians replied. "To you Terrans, our new allies, I wish a safe and productive continuation of your journey. May the light outshine the darkness in your path."

The Aklarians disconnected and quickly dialed the supergate. In less than two minutes, they left the galaxy. They would probably bring many ships here in order to guard the supergate, something that actually didn't need any guarding, but explaining that fact seemed quite bothersome, so they all refrained from doing it. And since they had already spent enough time dealing with the Aklarians, the fact that they would skip on the whole search for the Scourge thing was totally welcomed.

"Time to go meet the Inari," Weir said to the captain.

"Yes, time to meet the second race on Liam's list," the Captain said. "Inform the fleet, set formation Epsilon. Lieutenant Nishigaya, please dial the Inari galaxy. Let's hope the discussion with the Inari will go as well as it did with the Aklarians.

"Yes, I'm confident it will," Weir responded, fully convinced and with a positive attitude.

* * *

There was not a moment that didn't remind him of how distant he was from home or how foreign this galaxy truly was. That was the train of thought Eli was currently having while running for his very life on this strange, new world. He was being chased through very dense and unnaturally purplish foliage of a dense jungle by a fifteen-foot-tall animal the likes of which he knew of no adequate comparison from the many species living back in the Milky Way.

It all started the day he had finally realized that he had been spending his days working with aliens. The day had come when he had to admit it to himself that… Lora was an alien. He had tried with all his might to keep up with her schedule, but it had all been to no avail. The first problem was the difference in how long their respective days lasted. He, the same as all humans – those who had gone through _Genesis_ included – preferred living on a twenty-four hours' day-cycle.

Lora… did not.

Lora's day would normally last thirty-three hours, as it was the norm for all Alterrans. However, since the Terrans were having a daily routine based on a twenty-four hours cycle, she had opted to prolong hers to thirty-six hours making it somewhat more compatible. It was insane. He could not fathom her ability to work for twenty hours straight and still have a smile on her face. That must be specific to their race no other explanation could exist. When she starts with her work, there's simply no stopping her. She even confessed that she loves immensely the long hours of intense work.

On the other hand, after five straight hours of work, he needed to stretch. And by a stretch, he means to take a break of at least half an hour or preferably a full one. He could afterward push for another five or so hours, somehow, but that pretty much meant reaching his limit. After that, no matter how interesting the work he was doing truly was, he needed to stop or mistakes would quickly begin piling up one after another. He needed to unwind by doing something else. Some hobby, some exercise. It did not really matter. Then, he'd need to sleep for a full six hours and not the four that Lora needed after having been awake for thirty-two hours straight. This had finally made him realize that he was working with a bunch of aliens, for he was in the great minority here among the scientists. He was surrounded by a modest group of six Alterrans and one other human.

She looked even worse than how he did.

It was definitely time for a change or else he would end up burned out, or worse, the _aliens_ would start thinking that he was slacking off on his duties. But then, suddenly, an idea had come to him. The idea to spend some time with a fully Terran team while exploring the various planets in this new and completely foreign galaxy they were currently passing through. It was time for him to take his rightful place on SGD-1, the flag team slated to boldly venture onto unknown planets. He was to join the three most human people he knew, Scott, Greer, and Roberts, who each of them slept for eight hours a day minimum and their day lasted the usual twenty-four hours, as it should.

And that was why he was now running for his life while being chased by some creature the size of a house. The lower gravity - some weak 0.75 gees - was also royally pissing him off. He had the feeling that he had totally forgotten how to run. The timing of his legs moving and the amount of force his muscles were exerting was definitely off on this planet for what he was trying to achieve. The others weren't doing any better in this gravity either. He was also glad to see that Greer was running as if trying to win the Olympic gold medal and then push just a tad more, instead of performing one of his usual bravados. Like how he had done the day when they had first come to this galaxy and he had decided to play with some overgrown velociraptor on the first planet they'd visited. He was smart enough to realize that the thing chasing them now was far, far more dangerous and playing with it with his knife like he did the last time, could only help if he intended for the animal to die from laughter.

The animal also didn't seem to have any sense of humor.

"Eli! Dial the gate!" Scott shouted, even though the built-in communication unit inside their helmets was transferring sound just fine even without the need for shouting.

"To where!" Eli shouted back.

"Who cares?" Scott replied, even louder. "Just dial another damn planet!"

This might seem like an easy thing to do, but in truth, it really wasn't. First off, the Destiny was way out of reach. The way they had dialed this planet was by hopping six times from the planet with the lethargic Sloths, which was on the other side of the galaxy in relation to the Destiny. They went through six planets to come here, of which the last planet they passed was, unfortunately, a very dangerous one. The conditions were such that staying for more than a few minutes would result in having the first four humans in this foreign galaxy roasted very quickly. Before proceeding, they had boosted their suits to their limits, waiting for fifteen minutes so that the suits cooled down as much as possible without actually freezing any of them inside and only then stepping through the gate to the hellish planet. Only that had allowed them to survive for the meager minute or so before dialing to this planet. It was all thanks to SGD's protocol of sending a probe, an unlucky one to be sent ahead to visit that hellish world and stop working after mere 45 seconds. Just enough to get the bare minimum of data needed to come up with a viable plan.

If he dialed the same planet the way they were now, he would be endangering his teammates and that he could not do. On the other hand, dialing the next planet on the list was a gamble. It could be a planet as hellish as the previous one and they currently didn't have the time to send a probe first and wait for the results. There was no more time to think. He needed to choose one of the three available worlds they haven't visited yet and hope for the best.

He made the choice and the four of them plunged through the newly formed wormhole at full running speed. They made it through.

"Incredible!" It was the first word he heard through his comm. It was Roberts who had spoken.

He was agreeing – _fully_ \- with the man. There was definitely a reason to be stunned. Most planets they had visited thus far were in the ' _barely survivable'_ category. And the rest was in the ' _hell planet'_ category. This, instead, was something different. For this galaxy, it was something new, unexpected, and most of all very welcomed.

A quick check of the suit's sensors determined that the air contained 72.36% nitrogen, 26.17% oxygen, 0.82% argon, 0.09% carbon dioxide and the rest were other gases, none of them toxic. There were also no detectable pathogens in the air, the gravity was 97% of Earth's, and the Sun currently above their heads was heating the green world to very comfortable 21 degrees Celsius.

 _Have we stumbled on heaven somehow? Did we die without realizing it?_

He wasn't the first to take his helmet off. The moment he did, he saw that Roberts was already inhaling the fresh air while keeping his eyes closed. He couldn't fault the guy. It had been some time since they were able to breathe such fresh air filled with the scent of untouched nature. The scent of nature the way humans knew it from planets back in the Milky Way galaxy and definitely not from this one. He suddenly felt homesick.

"This planet is different from the rest," Scott said as he also took his helmet off.

"Yeah, it's as if somehow it doesn't belong to this galaxy," Eli added.

"I'm just glad that the thing chasing us was too big to step through the gate," Greer said.

He was right. If that thing was able to chase them here, they were toast. They had been incredibly lucky to have escaped and even more to land on a planet where they can comfortably rest for as long as they need it. He knew the creature back on the last planet would eventually move on, away from the gate, which means they could manage to somehow return to the Sloth planet. Maybe they should take this planet as their base instead of the planet with the Sloths. Here, they could possibly find edible food that would prevent them from having to eat the disgusting protein bars. Surely, there were edible flora and fauna. It wasn't a prayer the thought of food he just had, nonetheless the bird he suddenly saw take flight from a nearby tree made his hopes skyrocket.

"This world has animals similar to those in the Milky Way galaxy," Eli said.

"I've noticed," Roberts said. "That one looked remarkably similar to a quetzal."

"Similar to what?" Greer asked.

"Many consider the resplendent quetzal among the world's most beautiful birds and this one looks just like it. These vibrantly colored birds live in the mountainous, tropical forests of Central America where they eat fruit, insects, lizards, and other small creatures. Unfortunately, these striking birds are threatened in Guatemala and elsewhere," Roberts said, lost in his explanations.

"Sure, whatever," Greer added, looking weirded out by Roberts knowledge about birds. "If we are going to talk about animals, let's then try to find one that moves on four legs and see if we can eat it. That bird doesn't look very appetizing to me, or big enough."

"Not a bad idea," their leader, Scott, added. "We need to stay here for half a day at least to be sure that that creature is gone. Catching something that we can eat should easily beat eating our rations. We should see if there is a source of fresh water nearby."

The search began, with the four SGD-1 members strolling through the prairie of this uniquely beautiful planet. Even though they didn't yet find water or food, they somehow felt at peace, deep down feeling that everything would be fine. It didn't take long before they met an animal very similar to a deer. It was probably very succulent and Greer wanted to hunt it but it was too far out and in the opposite direction of where they were going. For some reason, Scott wanted to go in a very specific direction, repeatedly stating that this is the right way. Eli also felt the same way, which was making him feel slightly puzzled but he was simply putting it in the back of his mind as something not very important.

They had reached a small torrent. The water in it was so clear that he was dazzled. More so when he used his kit to check the water and it turns out that it had no harmful pathogens in it whatsoever. It was the best water he had ever drank, and after drinking it, he felt reinvigorated, as if he hadn't spent the last ten hours crossing planets and running for his life.

"This is weird," Greer stated it first.

"You don't say," Roberts agreed.

"This way of revitalizing the body, it reminds me of the story of the fountain of youth," Scott added.

"What? You mean the myth?" Greer asked.

"Yeah, that one, but the funny thing is that the fountain of youth, the one located in South America was actually the result of an Ancient healing device buried in a temple. That same device was also the basis for the Goa'uld sarcophagus," Scott explained.

"Should we drink it then," Greer asked, clearly not sure on what to do. "I read the report of what happened to the people who came in contact with that ancient device."

"I just said that it looked like, not that what we have here is the same thing. I don't know what's going on, but since we are in another galaxy, it should be unrelated," Scott retorted.

"So, we are all in accord that something weird is going on here, but none of us seems to care all that much. Isn't that even weirder," Eli said. The sense of peace he was feeling was also making him think that they should do something about it.

"Maybe we should use our long-range comm. to contact Destiny," Roberts inquired. He had the device in his backpack.

"That's for emergencies only," Scott retorted. "And even though this world is a peculiar find, I wouldn't call our situation an emergency."

There were Reapers in this galaxy and sending powerful subspace signals to the other side of the galaxy had to be done only if there was no other way. "Why not look around a little more before we decide."

"It makes sense," Scott said, clearly resolved to continue surveying the planet.

However, things had changed.

"Oh, I think we should call it in right away," Roberts said already taking the long-range comm. system out of his backpack. "Look on the other side of the torrent."

They all looked, and their eyes grew in disbelief. Scott was first to react. "Okay, this changes things. Make the call, right now!"

* * *

From the moment they made it aboard the Destiny, he could always sense a scent of the old permeating the ship. That was the current - and also the very boring - train of thought Young was having as he walked down one of the many corridors while in the lovely company of the mission's chief scientist, Lora. Now, instead, the smell was gone. The Destiny's new crew was doing a good job not only in repairing the damaged parts sustained during the ship's long voyage but also in thoroughly cleaning it up and giving it a fresh paint job. He had to admit, the Alterrans were tireless people. They worked, worked and then worked a lot more, never complaining or showing even a faint sign of minding doing whatever job they were tasked to do.

And with such disposition of a good chunk of his crew, the rest could not fall far behind either, could they?

It was all coming together nicely. A good atmosphere has set among the crew, with only a few minor problems with a few Terrans starting to feel a little claustrophobic. Some were blaming it on the bad lighting conditions, others on the entire ship looking like a gigantic coffin predominantly made of metal. Frankly, there wasn't much he could do for them. That was also why they had a psychiatrist accompanying them so that people could talk to her and feel better afterward, or so people who went say it.

Besides that, there wasn't much of anything he could complain about.

"Where are we at with the ship's energy storage capacity?" he asked. Maybe deep down he wanted to find something to complain about, just to make things livelier.

"83 percent," Lora replied. "And that's the final number. For more, we'd need a shipyard capable of replacing entire capacitors. Destiny is currently at 47 percent charge. Plenty if you are not planning on needlessly wasting it."

The meaningful look she gave him was enough to let him know what she was referring to. "Don't worry, I'm not planning on going after any aliens. For now, I'm content with flying FTL towards the other end of the galaxy. Although, knowing why we came here would also be nice."

"I am curious why we are here as well. The Ascended must have a specific reason for asking us to embark on such a long and possibly perilous journey," Lora said.

"What about that thing that you found? That thing the ship's recording as it travels," he asked.

"There is a pattern in the background radiation of the universe. A sort of signal that is present everywhere. Unchanging, constant, and I would also say unmoving, even though it doesn't make much sense but that is the only way I can describe it. There is also a slight variation from the signals that originated in the various galaxies the Destiny had traveled through," Lora said, lost in thoughts. She was clearly in full scientific mode now. "Yet, I don't see this as the reason for the Ascended to send us here. There has to be another, more tangible reason."

"Alright, back to square one on the whole 'why are we here' conundrum," he said, now wondering about a more mundane topic. "Will your team be able to finish the work on the main gun while we are mentally commuting back home? I would like to be able to get back in FTL the moment we are done with whatever we are going to talk once we get there," he said, thinking about what possible reason the guys back home could have to ask for Lora and him to use the communication stones together. Usually, as senior officers, they were the least probable to use the stones together, as suddenly using two senior officers at once wasn't a good thing in any case.

"That depends on how long we are going to be communicating with the people on the Gamma space station. I believe the repairs can be done in less than three hours if there are no delays."

"Good, good, I don't think the weird aliens can catch up with us in such a short time," He said, then thought of something that considerably raised his blood pressure. "I would also like for those two aliens we have to stop screeching like deranged roosters every time we try talking to them and start talking to us of their own volition instead."

"It will take some time to map their neural pathways in order to create a compatible mind probe, but we will make one eventually. And when we do, there will be no reason not to ask questions," Lora replied calmly.

The Alterrans did, from time to time, surprise him. People on Earth would probably debate up until the very energy death of the universe on this particular topic. The morality of probing someone's mind without their consent. Instead, the Alterrans saw nothing wrong with it. And he was talking with an Alterran now and not an Edenian. The repository of knowledge did more than just dump some scientific stuff into someone's brain. It downloaded live experiences of people who contributed to the knowledge contained in the massive repository, while also doing some rewriting of neural pathways. Compared to that, the simple genetic change the Edenian went through, the same as the Terrans through Genesis, was nothing much. Lora herself told him that she felt a different person after downloading the knowledge from the Repository. She knew more, many, many times more than before, but she also thought differently about some things. The idea of probing someone's mind with or without consent was for her distasteful before the download. However, afterward, she began believing that there was nothing wrong with it. She explained that with the download she had experienced how the Alterrans had lived, among other things, as fully telepathic beings. Even though most Alterrans could block others from reading their minds, they rarely did so. They found no need for holding their thoughts private and hidden from others. Therefore, she found it not as intruding into something that should be absolutely private as he, a Terran, might believe so. She also explained that the Alterrans had passed the phase where they would pretend and lie and hide, and instead they would admit the truth. That all Alterrans have both positive and negative thoughts that stem from many different emotions. By admitting what thoughts they had, they began the process of removing most negative ones through talks instead of repressing them in a portion of their mind where they could fester and inevitably grow stronger.

Hence, she found nothing wrong with intruding in others' minds, or at least not as much as the Terrans did, who believed that to be the ultimate intrusion into one's privacy. "I'm looking forward to finding out what these aliens want from this ship. I would be also very happy if the Drone System was operational."

"We agreed other projects have priority over it," Lora replied.

Agreed. That was the word she had used. More than agreed, he had conceded after a prolonged discussion of several hours where Lora had incessantly pointed out why other projects are more important. He hoped she didn't read his mind at the end of the discussion because she would have a very clear image of him blowing his own head with his service gun rather than listening for five more minutes to all the reasons why they should do it the way she was telling him.

More than agree with her, he had conceded defeat. "And those projects have all been completed. As well as several others that came afterward."

There was a slight pause before the reply came. "I will start with the drone launching system after the work on the main cannon is done. However, I must warn you that the system will take considerable time to be constructed and the production facility for the drones will be a small one. It will barely give a few drones each day and that is only as long as we have all the materials needed in their construction. We don't have enough of Element-304 and Element-310, and the latter must be synthesized under special conditions since it isn't present in nature."

"I'm not worried about the slow production that much. I would be fine if we could produce a few hundred drones just in case we are targeted by multiple enemies and can't escape right away. I would also like never to have to use them, however, I like to feel safe even more," he said as they were making the last turn before the communication room where the stones were. "Well, if we are finally working on the drones, it means that the repairs to the ship are completed, isn't that right?"

"It is as you say, at least for repairs that can be done outside of a shipyard. The power system is as good as it could be under the circumstances, the shielding system has all of its emitters replaced and functioning at one hundred percent, we also swapped a few components in the shield generator to improve its efficiency, and with today's repairs on the main cannon all weapons will be back at full strength. Thrusters, the engines, the inertial dampeners and the support system have all been checked and improved where it was possible. What remains are minor internal repairs and reopening the sections that have been closed because of breaches. Breaches that do not exist anymore. Frankly, I'm not certain if we need those sections opened either. For now, they would only serve to strain the support system further."

"We will open them if and when the need arises," he said as he opened the door to the communication room. "I must say, I didn't think the ship can be rejuvenated so much and surely not in such a short time. If we look at the capabilities this ship has now and compare them with those when we first came, the differences are quite substantial."

"After the repairs to the hull, the shielding system, and to the energy capacitors, I was already content with the overall result. Those were the most important repairs. With the repairs to the malfunctioning engine unit, we are even more efficient while traveling through FTL than before. Everything else is additional benefits but in my opinion nothing critical."

They both sat in front of the table where the communication stones were. "Well, let's see why the people back home are calling us. Maybe they have found a way to redial the Destiny."

"Doubtful. Such a news would not necessitate both of us to be relayed. Also, I am uncertain of what benefit would that give us. We have everything we need, and what we don't have we can easily build with the equipment we have brought with us. As an Alterran, I can use my race's quantum matter synthesizer. It allows me to construct everything I can envision, in all its details. And with the downloaded repository of knowledge into my mind, as well as having a ZPM available, there is very little I cannot make," Lora explained.

It made sense. The news of having a way to dial Destiny wasn't that big of a deal. Then, the remaining question was, what do people back home want to tell them? "Let's see what they have to say to us."

They were ready to activate the communication stones, however, Lieutenant Vanessa James stormed inside the room. "Sir, we've received a message from Lieutenant Scott."

"Can this not wait, Lieutenant? We are in the middle of connecting with the Milky Way galaxy, and apparently, it is so important that it necessitates both of us to be present," Young asked, a little frustrated. The entire day nobody had anything to report to him. However, the moment he has something real to do, people suddenly start flocking.

"Well, probably it could wait, sir, but I still think that you'd want to hear this immediately," James answered.

Whatever it was it must be important. "Okay, Lieutenant. Let's hear it."

* * *

"What do you mean, you are going?" Jack asked Thor, one of the assorted group of people currently all seated in the conference room. Aenea, Teal'c, and Adria were also present.

"The Asgard main battle fleet will continue to travel inside the Sphere, the same as the Terran Second Fleet commanded by your double. Now is the best opportunity to join the Sphere now that it still hasn't reached any hostile galaxy," Thor explained.

"Everybody is leaving. With whom am I going to talk to?" This was a grave problem for him. He actually never talked to any Asgard that wasn't Thor, and when he did, it usually didn't go too well. If it was like this, he will have no choice than to dump even more talks on Daniel. However, he knew that when the SGA members were discussing their war plans, it was he and no one else who would have to meet with them. Daniel simply wasn't qualified enough for that kind of discussion, which meant he would have to talk to someone other than Thor about those matters. He hoped it wouldn't be Kvasir. He met the alien a few times and he seemed pretty arrogant. "With whom am I going to discuss military matters if not with you?"

"Heimdall," Thor responded simply.

"Doesn't ring a bell. Well, I hope we'll get along the way the two of us do," Jack said, hoping, eagerly, that that would truly be the case.

"Not likely," Thor deadpanned.

He was taken aback by such a brisk reply. He really wasn't expecting it. How could he be so sure? "Why not?"

"Heimdall has no sense of humor or _patience_ ," Thor explained while squinting his eyes. He had put a lot of emphasis on the last word he spoke. "Even for Asgard standards."

Jack took a quick breath. What did 'even for Asgard standards' mean exactly? "I still have no idea why you're so bent on going? As the Supreme Commander, you should be staying here and deal with the big picture. Like I am doing."

"There is a debt the Asgard need to repay the Vargas and I want to be the one delivering," Thor responded.

There was anger there. Jack could sense it. "Is it related to the cloning problem your race was having?"

"Indirectly, yes," Thor answered.

"Indirectly?"

"Yes, indirectly. Ultimately, cloning wasn't directly responsible for the decline and of the eventual extinction of my race that would have certainly happened if Liam did not solve our problem in time."

'Wait, wait," Jack began, now not certain of anything anymore. Was the story being rewritten? Did people simply forget to tell him that? Did he skip another important memo? "How I remember it is that you guys decided to begin cloning as a way of prolonging your life, but didn't take into account the diminishing returns with each subsequent generation of clones until it was too late."

"That is all true, but that alone would not cause a race to go extinct," Thor responded.

"It wouldn't?" Jack was flabbergasted. This was news to him.

"No, it would not, and if you think about it a little more, you would realize it as well," Thor responded, but Jack still had no clue what he was talking about. Thor sighed in response. "Let us postulate that Asgard individuals, as members of any race that reproduces through meiosis, at some point form a partnership with a member of the opposite sex with the explicit intent to reproduce, in short, to have children. Let us also postulate that they do so in the early stages of their lives when they are between twenty and forty years of age. Let us also postulate that once those parents became old and near death, they decide to use cloning as a way of prolonging their lives. Let us also say that their children and the following generations follow their example and do the same. First, have children of their own before cloning their bodies when they near the end of their life. Could in such a case cloning be the cause for the eventual extinction of their race?"

Jack wasn't sure how to answer since, until this very moment, he was sure the answer was 'yes'. However, the question was probably an ambush and it smelled like the right answer was actually 'no'. The problem was that today he really didn't want to use his brain cells to think about difficult stuff, and yet, Thor was asking him to do just that. He turned to look at Aenea and saw how she was shaking her head, which meant his hunch was dead on. "No, it doesn't."

"You are correct," Thor responded, but he was making a difficult face as if he understood that he had merely guessed. "The reason why 'no' is the correct answer is because the children are always reproducing the next generation of Asgard born through sexual reproduction, and no race with a working brain would choose to stop reproducing in such a way and continue only by cloning themselves, even in case there were some considerable benefits from cloning, like the ability to tamper on a clone body."

Jack was thinking hard now. He was fed up with others always telling him the answer. It finally dawned on him. "The Vargas! They did something to you so that you couldn't reproduce anymore and you had to choose to clone!"

"That is the current theory we are working with. The timing of our species losing our ability to procreate and the surfacing of the Goa'uld, which we now know is because of the genetic modifications the Vargas did to them 16,000 years ago, is too coincidental to be unrelated. Also, an investigation into the databanks aboard the Vargas ships discovered that they sometimes use a type of retrovirus capable of changing, or maybe the better word would be corrupting, a species' DNA that displays phasing properties."

"A virus with phasing properties? What's that?" Jack asked.

"That's when part or the whole of an organism is able to shift slightly out of phase, hence almost impossible to detect," Aenea added. "However, such virus is also not normally present in nature."

"And since the Asgard never believed there was an external influence in our race losing the ability to reproduce, we never contemplated the cause being such a complex and artificially created virus," Thor explained. "At least, this is the latest theory the Asgard council is working with. There is no physical evidence the Vargas did anything to us. However, an entire race losing the ability to reproduce in only ten generations is not impossible, but certainly highly suspicious."

"As you've said, all the evidence points to their involvement in your race's decline. Thankfully, Liam had that computer of his run your genome in order to create viable bodies for your consciousness, yet able to reproduce once again. I'm a little confused that you guys didn't do it on your own, without Liam's help."

"The computer running the Asgard genome for 10,000 years through an evolutionary algorithm wasn't the most important factor. The return of an Alterran was," Thor said.

"Meaning?"

"O'Neill, you still do not fully comprehend how knowledgeable the Alterra, your kind, are. Just think about what knowledge you would need to have in genetics alone to create a device, the one on Dakara, that casts an energy waveform capable of modifying a primitive species on another planet so that millions of years later the second iteration of the Alterra is born, all the while keeping the modifications such that a virus that devastated their entire race wouldn't be able to affect them," Thor explained.

It was true. He thought of the now defunct device on Dakara as some big, clumsy weapon and nothing more. He didn't have a clue where to even start to make a device that can create a specific lifeform or it modifies an existing one over an extended period. And it wasn't the device on Dakara alone either. There had been leftover devices that displayed amazing capabilities in manipulating a subject's DNA. Both, the device Nirti used for her experiments, or the one found on Atlantis that Rodney accidentally used.

"Got it. You're set on going no matter what," Jack concluded what was the actual point of their discussion.

"Yes, I am going," Thor replied solemnly. "Soon, the Sphere will enter a region of space heavily controlled by the Vargas and their minions. That will be the first battlefield in this war."

Jack sighed. The first battlefield was going to be fought in the IC 1101 galaxy, one among the largest known galaxies. The galaxy has a radius of 2 million light-years, almost what the distance between the Milky Way and Pegasus galaxies is. Like most large galaxies, IC 1101 is populated by a number of very old, metal-rich stars, some of which are even seven billion years older than the Sun. It has an ultra-massive black hole in the center in the mass range of 40-100 billion times the mass of our Sun, a black hole around which there are approximately one hundred trillion stars circling. It isn't strange that it has become one of the focal points in the Vargas strategy to spread through the universe. From the collected data from Vargas ships, it seems that the IC 1101 galaxy contains 9 distinct locations, each with a hub of 6 anomalies in it. If the SGA were to disrupt all of them, the Vargas' control over the space between the IC-1101 and the Milky Way, a very important and wide region, would be removed.

Thor was going there, his double was too. Sheppard and Laundry were also going as admirals given command of separate battlegroups. Almost 80 percent of all SGA ships would end up there in the next three to six months. Yet, he knew how little that was compared to a galaxy that had 100 trillion stars in it.

"It is good that Weir has managed to get the Aklarians cooperation. They are sending 15,000 warships all with an intergalactic hyperdrive in the first wave alone," Jack stated.

"We will greatly benefit from such numbers," Aenea added. "Even with our combined assets, we are nowhere near that number of ships."

"Thankfully, what we lack in quantity, we make up for it in quality," Jack stated, then turned to Teal'c. "Teal'c, as you've just heard, we are going to send a lot of our ships very far from here. Except for the ships stationed to protect our planets, you can expect only our older ships like the Daedalus and the Achilles to remain and patrol the galaxy. This means that the other human races capable of interstellar travel and the Jaffa will have to step up with their game."

"I agree, however, I cannot with confidence say that the Jaffa will agree to send a large number of ships away from their home systems on patrols. Not while the danger of the Reapers still looms above us," Teal'c replied.

"We have a solution to that. Actually, a half solution to that problem," Jack said after deciding that they still did not have any magic bullet to end the Reapers. Not yet anyway.

"Explain," Teal'c said.

"Well, we have found a way to exploit the Reaper's greatest weakness, which is their unchanging nature. The worst thing about fighting intelligent enemies is their ability to adapt. You find a way to fight them, and they change strategy or make a new weapon that counters your move. This precludes most long-term strategies in which you'd invest a lot of time, only for the enemy to change and toss everything you did down the toilet.

"However, things with the Reapers are different because they never change. The only thing they do is multiply, but their very core doesn't allow them to upgrade their systems. We are sure of this from the data we were able to extract from one of their motherships."

"The Reapers remain the same, I understand. However, how does this help us?" Teal'c asked.

"It helps us because we can invest in creating a dedicated weapon that works only for them. Usually, it would be impractical to build a weapon that works only against one enemy," Jack said while clicking on his pad. A hologram sprang above the table. On top of it, some kind of mechanical squid with very long and flexible tentacles was shown. "Think of this as an antibody exclusively built to kill Reapers. Even though smaller than even the smallest of the Reapers, it moves faster than any of them. Its job is to attach itself to a Reaper with its long tentacles. It then starts emitting a pulse through them that disrupts the Reaper's logic circuits until it completely resets them. Besides being invisible to the Reapers, the best part of this weapon is that it isn't a onetime weapon. After a Reaper is fried, it detaches itself and goes seeking another victim."

"Indeed, if the Reapers are always the same and unable to adapt, this may be the greatest weapon against them," Teal'c stated, but there was a frown on his face.

"What is it Teal'c?"

"I do not know the exact specifications of these Reaper killers. Nonetheless, even what I can see here is enough to know that the Jaffa cannot build them. The level of miniaturization needed to build its pulse gravitic drive alone is certainly beyond our abilities."

"We are fully aware of it. Besides the Tollans, no other human race has the tech base to build this either. This is why the Terrans will be building them and give them to you and the other human races at no cost," Jack said. The fact that it will be given for free should appease even the greatest of skeptics, like Bre'lac and others in their faction.

"This will help persuade many in the Jaffa to move their ships, however, as well as I am, you are also aware that there are other problems. You will have to propose this directly to the Jaffa Council, and there will certainly be those who will disagree with you regardless."

The meaning was clear. There was a large faction that was working against anything Terran would propose, and Jack knew that they would make trouble for them no matter what. Still, Jack smiled at that. He did so because there were ways to go around it, and the reason why was because Teal'c and Bra'tac's faction and those aligned with them was all that they were after. The production of modernized ships their faction was doing was more than double that of Bre'lac. "If the other faction refuses, it is regrettable for sure but we will be fine even with your faction's ships alone."

"If the other side doesn't send their ships, it is questionable if we can send them, even with the new weapon against the Reapers," Teal'c replied, a little worried.

Jack understood. Teal'c wasn't preoccupied about the Reapers alone. He didn't want to send most of their ships while the other major Jaffa faction kept theirs back because he was afraid this would possibly give Bre'lac some seditious ideas that could endanger their worlds. This was enough to make Jack know how the situation between the two factions in the Jaffa Free Nation was deteriorating even faster than predicted. As if it wasn't enough to have to deal with the Vargas and countless minions of theirs. They also have to deal with the Jaffa internal problems. "I'll tell you what. If the other faction doesn't send their ships, we will loan you a couple of our defensive satellites and ground cannons we have a surplus of for each of your planets." Those were defensive systems that were slowly being phased out since they did not have what it took to prove useful against the Vargas. However, the plasma beams the satellites used were the same as those the Daedalus used, and the massive planetary plasma cannons were enough to keep even the Ori at bay if in enough numbers. Even if the other side sent a fleet big enough to succeed in conquering their world, with the addition of these defenses they would lose countless ships in the attempt. Something the other faction cannot afford, even if they came to the insane idea to attack other Jaffa worlds that did not agree with their ideology.

"I thought the Terran Council was against giving such defensive systems because of fear the technology can be stolen?" Teal'c asked.

"First, we will say that the tech isn't the latest of what we have, then we add that the Jaffa promise not to take a peek at what's under the hood. Then, the council will want to install some safety measures, which is not all that a difficult to do, and lastly, we will say that they are only a loan. In the end, I think they'll agree to loan you the cannons and satellites without making any fuss about it. Your weapons after the upgrade with the Aschen tech aren't very far behind from the plasma cannons I'm planning on giving you anyway. It is just that those ground cannons are scaled up, therefore more powerful."

"If the Terrans council agrees, then I can convince the Jaffa without fail, even if the other faction reneges to send help as stipulated in our mutual aid treaty."

The Terrans and the Jaffa did sign a treaty to mutually help each other when facing a common enemy. They did it so long ago that Jack barely remembers it. Not that it mattered. The likes of Bre'lac would find a way to explain why not sending any ship wasn't a breach, or if not, he would simply renege their promise without even batting an eye. Thankfully, he never took that side of the Jaffa into consideration while making any plans. "That's good. In a way, sooner we make it clear to Bre'lac that we stand behind your faction, the better. It might convince them to play nice too."

"O'Neill, what you have just said is very reasonable. However, it does not mean much when the other side is not also reasonable."

"Yeah, you're right about that," Jack stated a little deflated. "Still, let's deal with the Reapers first so that the Milky Way galaxy is once again free of any external threats."

"Even with this new weapon, we still do not have a way to track them down," Teal'c asked.

"We think we have a solution for that as well. That's why Young and Lora from the Destiny are scheduled to come here soon. We think that the Reapers they are facing in their galaxy are of an older type, possibly tens of thousands of years older. It might be possible for them to succeed where we have failed. Hopefully, even though older models, their communication protocols are the same or similar enough to give us what we need. Also-" Jack was about to continue, but he suddenly heard some commotion outside the door. Then two people stormed inside, followed by another officer, the one who was trying to stop them from entering. "What's going on?"

That man was the first to talk. "I'm sorry, sir, but Admiral Young and Lora were insistent they wanted to talk to you right away."

"Admiral Young, did something so massive happened in your corner of the galaxy that you had to storm here ahead of schedule?" Jack asked, a little irked by the interruption.

"Yes, sir, it did," Young said, but then Lora was the one to continue. She was looking straight at Aenea while speaking. "We found Liam."

Jack remained speechless, just like anyone else in the room.

 _to be continued..._

* * *

 _ **Well, I did say at the beginning that this is an evil chapter :D. Please leave a review.**_


	19. New Frontiers - Part III

_**Author's note:**_ I took quite some time to write the next chapter. When I left that cliffhanger in the previous one, I thought I would need maybe a month at most to write the continuation. But, here we are after more than half a year later. Ah well, what can you do? Maybe one day I won't have to work for a living, and then I'll be able to devote more time to writing. Although, by that time, I hope the story will already be completed.

For those who haven't read the last few chapters, maybe it would be a good idea to refresh your memory by skimming over them. I know I had to do it before writing this chapter.

Well, no point in waiting any longer.

 _ **Thanks to my beta, and hope you'll like this chapter too.**_

* * *

"I hope you bring good tidings, Nava," Severna said while briskly walking down the vast hall made of stones in her modest castle.

"None able to qualm your concerns, my lady," Nava, her servant, responded while walking toward her.

"That is unfortunate indeed. Have these people give a reason for such disrespectful conduct?" Severna asked.

"Regrettably, they haven't, my lady. Peaceful explorers interested in seeing different cultures on new worlds they visit - that is what they claim to be. When asked to leave, they confirm they will, always. Yet, more are present now than ever before. Normalcy is being disrupted by their constant meddling and questioning of our people," Nava replied, concerned.

"That settles it then. If force is all they understand, we shall give it to them," Severna stated angrily. It wasn't the way of her people, but there were limits to what she could tolerate. Or should.

"I wouldn't recommend taking such a rush action, Lady Severna," he said while seated at a large table placed slightly closer to a side of the hall, a table meant for at least twelve people, yet he was sitting alone. He was slowly sipping some wine, which, he had to admit, was better than the one produced in his world.

Severna looked at him pensively. "Emperor Arkhan, I am not interested in games at this particular moment. If you have true counsel to give, I am willing to hear it. If not, silence is expected."

She was a feisty one, which made him like her even more. "I do have counsel to give - good counsel that may well save your realm an uninvited future. Interested in nearing it?"

"Speak then!" she asked sharply, meanwhile motioning to Nava to leave them alone.

"Very well. The unwanted people that are infesting your streets want you to use force," he said, taking another sip of wine.

"What purpose could they possibly have to promote conflict where there is no need for it?"

"The answer lies in the very question you asked, yet you failed to notice. The Galarans want conflict - one that _you_ started."

"They are the transgressors disinclined to leave! Not us!"

"That would not matter. In the eyes of their people, we attacked one of their own, one not holding a weapon. That is how they would see it, and how they would tell it to others. If some were to be gravely injured or heavens forbid killed even, their people would be enraged, and the Galarans would have the excuse they seek to present to other worlds. Maybe even enough to invade your realm and take it as payment without anyone preventing them from doing so."

"They want to invade us, yet they need excuses in front of other worlds to do so? Why is that so?" Severna asked, anxiety starting to creep into her voice.

"They do because there is one entity that they fear more than any other, and rightly so. It is called _the Peace Corps_. A bunch of peace-loving do-gooders that, if the Galarans were to invade your world without provocation, would descend upon them and annoy the Galarans to death."

"I do not understand. You speak of nonsense to me. Why would the Galarans fear peace loving people?" Severna accused.

"Because the brutes in the Terran Space Navy and Army, who are capable of wielding many planet-shattering weapons, are supporting them. If even one of those peace-loving people were to be killed, they would come like locusts, destroying all those that have wrong them as if the wrath of God himself descended upon them."

"Surely, you jest," Severna asked, snickering. "It seems Emperor Arkhan likes to make a mountain out of a molehill."

"Ask the Goa'uld, Ori, Wraith, Leptinians, or Aschen! Oh, that's right. You cannot!"

Her eyes went wide. "I never heard of these Wraith or Leptinians you speak, but I know about the other races mentioned and of their terrible fate. If the stories told around are true, those races fell by the hand of a truly ruthless oponent, unyielding and capable of bringing untold devastation on a whim. Their destruction was complete and uncompromising. The Tau'ri seem as saviors to some, yet demons to others, but all are in full accord to never provoke them, as not to end on their less amicable side," she paused for a moment. "No matter. The intricacies of galactic politics do not help me in chasing these invaders from my world. If I cannot use force, then what other recourse do I have?"

"I did not say you cannot use force."

"I do not understand. Again, I shall add!" There was a hint of desperation in her voice. "I was certain you did say exactly so."

"You can use force, but there must be a plausible reason for it. Let us say that one of the visitors did something unforgivable. Would it not then, in the eyes of the galaxy, your action of forcefully chase them away be excused?"

"What kind of plausible reason?"

"It should be a reason most in the galaxy frown upon, and deeply so. Something even the Galarans themselves would look upon with disgust and even shame. We all know that temptations are many and that the flesh is weak. I'm certain there is at least one Galaran on the planet young and inexperienced enough to fall for such lures."

"You have a very disturbing mind, Emperor. Useful, I admit, but disturbing, nonetheless. However, even a masterfully executed subterfuge would not convince the Galarans that one of their own did so without coercion of one kind or another. They would certainly know-"

"You are preoccupying yourself with needless concerns. I do not care, the galaxy does not care, and you should not care either what the Galarans think or do not. To us, it is enough if they cannot disprove their guilt. Races in the galaxy are not stupid. No doubt they would realize what has transpired and most would be glad that you tricked them, I assure you."

"If they knew, then why allow the Galarans to invade in the first place?" Severna asked. There was a trace of exasperation present in her voice.

"The same reason why the Galarans cannot invade if you used force while through legitimate reasons. If it seemed the Galarans had a legitimate reason to invade, and the Terrans reacted by attacking the Galarans, then to the rest of the galaxy, it would seem as if the Terrans were the invaders who used the Galaran invasion of your world merely as a ruse for invading them in turn. Instead of saviors and bringers of peace, the Terrans would appear as the despots and brutes of the galaxy. In the long run, that would have a harmful effect, and the entire galaxy would suffer for it."

"This all seems very complicated and confusing," Severna said, vexed.

"That is because it is complicated… and often very confusing as well," Maybourne stated, wholeheartedly agreeing with her. He sometimes missed his retirement days.

Severna was pensive. The idea he had given her must have spurred some hope and a will to act, but she was now glaring at him with wary eyes. He could guess why too. Her next sentence confirmed it. "Would I be correct in assuming that this help you are giving me does not come for free? What do you seek in return, Emperor?"

"Only to further our relationship. I take it as payment enough," Maybourne said, smiling benevolently.

"You're not pressing the issue of our people joining under your rule?" Severna asked.

"I am not," Maybourne answered dispassionately, then changed his demeanor, now looking bothered. "I also told you it would be _our_ rule and not mine."

Severna measured him. She wasn't the kind of woman who'd outright believe a person, he knew she wasn't that gullible, but she wasn't stubborn or unyielding with her preconceptions either. "I am having trouble believing you. In both of your statements, in fact."

"In that case, I can ease your worried mind regarding my sincerity. At least in one of my statements," Maybourne said, smiling.

"It seems you like to make women wait. Please explain and do so with haste."

He could swear there was steam coming out of her ears.

"I am not pressing the issue of our people joining because I am now waiting for you to bring the same matter to me first," Maybourne said, putting a wicked smile. Severna wasn't saying anything, but he knew she couldn't simply dismiss his haughty declaration. "I'm afraid the Galarans are only one race among many in this galaxy with expansionist ideas, and with the Rings not working, planets without the capability to travel in ships become very isolated, very quickly. And being isolated might be very dangerous. Your knowledge in matters external to your world is certainly outdated, if not nonexistent, and if targeted, regrettably, you cannot find off-world help while the Ring is not working. You know that the way you are now, you are easy prey to those with the ability to come by ship. You also must have gathered by now that there are those in the galaxy who have no misgivings in attacking you even if it angers other races. Like pirates, for example."

Seven years ago, the head of the TIA, Klaus, came to him with a proposal. The Terrans needed an outsider to deal with matters they would prefer not to be implicated in. He understood such a need all too well. It was the basis of covert operations, those that should never trace back to the Terrans. However, what he thought they had planned for him was a mission with a much smaller scope than what turned out to be the case. They told him of their idea for King Arkhan to - through some fictitious connections - stumble upon some advanced technologies that would quickly uplift his kingdom. It wasn't difficult. He already had the reputation among his people for being someone with extensive knowledge - knowledge he had readily used to improve the lives of his people. With a few Terran volunteers as aides and by giving him a nanites based assembly line combined with enough knowledge copied on a few essential Crystals, the kingdom of Arkhan was about to change very quickly and very drastically. With the ability to construct what ninety-nine percent of human worlds in the Milky Way galaxy could not, and coupled with the Terrans setting up bogus deals for trinkets gained in return, the kingdom's coffers quickly welled with valuables of many types, including precious materials needed to start building his future Navy. Coupled with an excellent PR system created solely to spread rumors of a wealthy and generous kingdom willing to accept new subjects from any other world - even from poor ones, it didn't matter - King Arkhan quickly gained the needed workforce. Maybourne and his Terran cohorts had built an idiot-proof infrastructure mostly ran by semi-smart AIs, a lot of people who needed to do some additional menial work, and them on top as coordinators.

It took around four years for Arkhan to become a world with a decent merchant Navy that could service the neighboring systems, and it had happened just before the rings went down. Suddenly, his Navy was among the few capable of transporting resources, small or large, between worlds.

Three years later and Arkhan wasn't a kingdom made up of a single world anymore. Instead, it turned into the Empire of Arkhan, spanning across four worlds. Most worlds joined because of the safety his technology assured. Orbiting satellites were placed above each of his vassal worlds while central castles, those signifying his seat of power, were built and provided with shielding technology as well as ground plasma cannons. It was another way for Maybourne to centralize his power. People would grow their medieval towns and villages, keeping close to the castles since these strongholds were the only defenses capable of protecting against invaders. Of course, this would last until they manage to uplift the people in those worlds, which, admittedly, was going to take some doing and it will take quite some time.

He liked the idea of creating an Empire. In some way, it was like sticking it to Jack once more. Even better than rubbing it into his nose that he now had multiple wives. Still, what he wanted even more than that was _time_. It took eight years to build everything he now had and these eight years when you are in your sixties isn't something that leaves you with a sense of ease. First, he asked for nanites that restored part of his health and vitality, prevented diseases from taking him to an early grave, and even worked as a safeguard against an _accidental_ poisoning from the local deadly mushrooms somehow finding their way into his soup. Then, the defeat of the Aschen brought medicine that could easily double your lifespan. The only thing he needed to do was safeguard his _potential_ progeny before taking the drug that made you sterile even before doing anything positive to your body. The combination of Aschen medicine and nanites gave him close to another hundred years before the grim reaper would visit him. He guessed it would be more than enough time to get his hands on some decent cloning technology and to transfer his consciousness into the much younger body.

He wasn't fooling himself into thinking that he wasn't doing it all to further his own needs and ambitions because he genuinely was. After all, he _was_ a selfish man. However, since his demands had been satisfied, there was no reason not to make his subjects' lives better. The only thing still on the table was the chance of going through _Genesis_ , which was out of reach, unfortunately. To go through it, he needed to be a Terran citizen. Not only would this hamper TIA's efforts in setting him up as an emperor. It would also force him to abdicate, as no Terran could be the ruler of a world outside of the Terran Federation.

And he'd rather be an emperor in his own small yet thriving empire than being an ordinary citizen in the Terran Federation. _Genesis_ or no _Genesis_ issue aside.

Severna spent those few minutes mulling over what he had told her. About how sooner or later somebody would come knocking and how she wouldn't have the necessary stick to chase them away. And, he knew, she was smart enough to heed his warning, instead of dismissing it by believing in rainbows and unicorns or by thinking in fairytales that spoke of happy endings always awaiting at the end of the yellow brick filled road. She knew better, and that was the reason why he knew she would, one day, inevitably, come to him.

"You said you could quell the unease I feel regarding the other statement you made as well. You spoke of not _your_ rule alone, but ours instead. How do you intend to do so?" Severna spoke silently.

"Marriage," Maybourne said simply and saw no disagreement on Severna's face. She was a beautiful young woman who could have any one of the many suitors readily pestering her daily. She was the only survivor of the royal family after a terrible disease struck her planet and took too many lives prematurely. Maybourne knew he wasn't going to be invited to pose for the cover of Playgirl anytime soon. Even with the nanites and the Aschen medicine, he still looked twice her age and worse than most of her other suitors. It might mean that Severna wouldn't mind being the woman behind the power, or she found his shrewd nature as a bonus. He didn't know why she wasn't refusing his proposal on the spot, but for some reason, that seemed to be the case here.

It was making him curious about her even more.

If he could somehow sweeten the deal a bit more, she might even agree. "Also, my place is on Arkhan, and yours is here."

"Are you insinuating I would be left to rule over this world? Alone?" Severna asked, eagerly awaiting the answer.

"Of course. It is your world, and these people are _your_ loyal subjects. Who better than you to guide them? That is as long as the decisions you make are not harmful to the rest of the Empire. Laws that apply to citizens on other worlds would also apply to yours. Both privileges and obligations must be equal among all my subjects, no matter to which world they belong to. Arkhan is a very _fair_ empire," he explained. He would set up a communication system like the one the Terrans had been using with their allies. They could be in touch with a delay of merely a few hours. "I would also provide this world with advisors and the needed technology to build defenses capable of fending off ills as strong as the Galarans, or those as pitiful yet ruthless as pirates that I know are circling this system. In time, this world would grow, and its people would fully join the rest of the Empire as nothing short of equals in every aspect. By joining the empire, your people would suffer fewer maladies, and they would be taught the truths of the universe — no more believing in magic and superstitions. Knowledge only available to the most advanced races in the galaxy would freely be shared. The likes of the Galarans would not attack you, not just because I have the means to defend us, but also because they would eventually learn to think of your people as their peers instead of uneducated boors only good to be exploited, as they are thinking of you now."

"It all seems like a great offer, Emperor Arkhan," Severna said, as she slowly sat on the other side of the table. She smiled before continuing. "But, please indulge my curiosity in one more matter. Regarding a rumor I have heard in passing."

"If it is in my power, I will answer, of course."

"How many wives do you already have? Three I believe the rumors declare," she asked playfully.

"Oh, crap!"

"That, it seems, answers my concern. Three wives already and you travel to other worlds seeking more? Do you plan to have a wife for each world you make yours?"

Maybourne sighed. "Well, I only mentioned marriage to ease your worries. A bond that would strengthen your station if your world were to become part of the empire. However, I am not in the habit of forcing marriage onto others. I am certain we can find another way for us to work together."

"No, the part about us marrying I'm fine with. The less agreeable part is you going back on Arkhan to spend nights with your _other_ wives, while I spend mine alone in my bed. Did you not mention how your empire is a fair one? Isn't its Emperor likewise a _fair man_?"

He didn't expect that. "Well, I'm sure we can... come to an agreement. I do not see any issue here, and I do like to travel and visit all parts of my Empire often enough."

 _'Four wives? Jack is going to get a stroke.'_ He smiled, fully content.

* * *

Jack dropped into his comfy armchair, feeling exhausted. Closing his eyes, he began reminiscing on how this had been yet another tiring day he had to go through. It should be over now, but, somehow, he wasn't very optimistic. Lately, when he thought that all work was done and that he could finally go home and relax on his veranda while slowly sipping a cold beer, Walter, Sam, or someone else would always rush into his office with something important that needed to be done asap. Something that couldn't be postponed no matter what. So, he was expecting that today wouldn't be any different.

The last few days had been among the worst he had in a very long time. Not only had he been forced again to spend some time chasing after the ever-elusive Shrike in the distant past, but today, when he finally came back exhausted, he found the people around him lacking in any sympathy towards him. Of course, they listened to his story; he wouldn't allow them to leave until he told it in its entirety. It was a story about him having to go back into the past, fully knowing that once again it would accomplish nothing and that he would have to do it several more times. It had been proven that the Shrike was first sighted in the 18th century, which meant that only after he reached at least that period, he could hope to stop him. Since both were traveling backward in time in discrete hops several years apart, if he were able to stop him in the 19th century – where he went this time – he would create a temporal paradox.

That would probably be bad.

He said to Sam that he thought of this whole time-traveling thingy as impossible and above all paradoxical from its very inception, meaning the harm had already been done a long time ago. So, if that was the case, why wouldn't he be able to beat the Shrike earlier, before the first occurrence of the Shrike being sighted? Who cared if it created another paradox? He certainly didn't! He hated the whole Shrike business and even more the fact that he was the only one capable of stopping it. This was his train of thought that he had presented to Sam, which turned out to have been a big mistake. Afterword, he had to spend the next thirty minutes listening to her lecture about temporal mechanics, various theories, ideas, and blatant guesswork that his brain, with his eidetic memory, absorbed like a sponge to never be forgotten no matter how much he tried. He had, at one time, entered his imaginary world as a sort of escape from the lecture. In that world he imagined that he was standing on his porch while sipping his favorite beer, chilled to the right temperature and with no worries on his mind whatsoever. However, Sam would quickly understand what he was doing and would yell – Hey! Are you even listening while I'm explaining? At that point, answering truthfully, that he wasn't listening at all, would only have served to irritate her, and yet, the sermon would undoubtedly continue. So, why bother, right?

He had to endure it. There was just no other way.

Salvation did not come even when her lecture ended since Walter stormed in immediately afterward, bringing piled up work he hadn't done in the past several days. He clearly wasn't understanding of the fact that he had to spend the last few days in the past trying to catch a monster that, if not stopped, would cause the end of the universe. At one point, Walter did seem concerned because of his time-traveling, but the reason for his concern, of course, wasn't his explanation on how tired he was but instead the possibility of paperwork piling up too much while he was 'gallivanting through time' as to how Daniel had named it. He, as well, was an annoying being, saying that people would be prepared to pay a fortune to be able to visit the past as he did and because of it, that he shouldn't complain. Why did Daniel think of his time-traveling ventures as vacations like that was beyond his understanding? Why would anyone want to chase a monster in some godforsaken little place like Casper, Wyoming? The fact that it was the end of the 19th century the time in which he had traveled only meant that the Casper he had visited had a population of fewer than a thousand souls living in it, instead of the fifty thousand it had today. Again, like in the situation with Sam, discussing these negative connotations of time travel with Daniel – to make him understand that time travel the way he was forced to do it wasn't as glamorous as he was making it sound - was a pure exercise in futility. Both of his best friends and most trusted confidants weren't showing any sympathy toward his tribulations.

He felt a deep sense of betrayal.

He sighed, thinking how today was the same as all those other times. He'd already had to deal with the ton of work Walter had dumped on him even before he could take a shower. He was confident that, now that he was done with the paperwork, if he didn't leave soon, someone would storm inside his office wanting something that would take at least an hour to solve. This was the moment he understood. Instead of continuing to lean back in his chair, he abruptly stood up. Quickly, he began putting whatever was on the desk back in their proper places. It was a job that could be done in five minutes tops, yet he soon realized that it would last too long. His Alteran Spidey sense detected someone walking outside the office. Focusing on the approaching aura, he understood that the individual in question was none other than Daniel, who just passed his own office, on his way here. Since there was no other office further down the corridor than his own, it also meant there was no destination other than here Daniel could be going. He knew there was no escape.

With trepidation, he awaited the moment when the man entered his office.

"Oh, Jack. Why are you standing in the middle of your office?" Daniel asked the moment he stepped inside.

"I was in the middle of leaving, but then sensed you in the corridor. What do you want, Daniel?" he asked tersely.

"Nothing much, except maybe to talk about various things that are going on and to get your opinion on a few things," Daniel replied.

Daniel had a lot to deal with; he knew that. There were always various diplomatic fires that need to be put out. Because of it, he often came to him to discuss things. It was a process that helped Daniel come to terms with the problem at hand and to find the best possible course of action. Usually, he didn't mind spending some time with Daniel while discussing crucial events that happened in the galaxy and even give him a few solicited bits of advice. Afterward, he would have to come to his own decision on how to go ahead.

This was all well and good, but today had been a very exhausting day. "If you want to talk, we are going to my place where I can put my slippers first, grab a couple of cold beers second, get comfortable on my porch third, and only then start talking."

"I don't mind. Although it will take us-"

His sentence was interrupted by the sound of the beaming system enveloping them. The destination was Jack's house, just in front of his slippers.

"-some time to reach your house," Daniel kept talking, but then realized the change of scenery. "Jack, I don't think that the beaming system on the Starbase above us was built to be used for personal reasons like getting home from their office. If everybody started using it indiscriminately, we would receive quite the electric bill at the end of the month, and you know how Paul gets when it comes to unneeded cost, don't you?"

"I'm tired, Daniel. I think that using the system this one time isn't as bad as you're making it sound," he replied, a little annoyed.

"That's what the Alterrans thought too, but you know how that turned out, right?"

It was true. In the distant past, millions of years ago, the Alterrans had developed a similar system like the one the Asgard developed. It was established before the ring system. Strangely, it could be said that the ring system was created _because_ of this earlier failure. The problem was that the Alterran liked it a lot. So much so that there were even those that woke up in the morning and used the system to teleport to the bathroom, not even five meters apart. The Alterran were very good at controlling their technology with their thoughts, so it was easy to invoke the teleportation system whenever they wanted. It sounded silly to use it for such a short distance and, in truth, if this were the only problem, they wouldn't have ended up banning the system. The bigger issue was that people used it everywhere and at any time of the day. Suddenly, a person would appear in the middle of the meeting by teleporting, or on the streets by popping up here and there at random. While other people would be working at their workplace, they would sporadically have the teleportation of some of their colleagues in and out, continually disrupting their work. It quickly became too chaotic to be used without constant disruption. It was because of that chaos that the Alterran adopted the ring system as an alternative that forced order, even though it wasn't as quick or convenient as a system that allowed teleportation to any point on a whole planet. People had to reach teleportation rings first and could only teleport to specific locations. It also wasn't activated directly with the mind but through normal controls placed at a touching distance, which further decreased the chaos a teleportation system without such constraints caused.

"That's true," he distractedly replied while speeding toward the fridge.

With a six-pack in hand, he moved towards the porch. Opening the door, he hastily zeroed on his usual chair that was already facing toward the lake. Sitting on it, he quickly went ahead and opened a beer. He gave it to Daniel, who sat on another chair before opening another one. The time has finally come. He took a long sip before leaning back. His body instinctively began relaxing.

He was finally home.

"You were quite tired, weren't you?" Daniel spoke.

"My incessant pleas for mercy ever since I came back haven't phased you or Sam one bit, so what's this now?" Jack said accusingly.

"Well, you always grumble for one reason or another. But this is my first seeing you this tired," Daniel replied calmly.

"Well, if you see that I'm this tired, then let's get to business. I plan to be in bed in one hour tops."

"First, let's talk about the Galarans."

"Refresh my memory. What's wrong with the Galarans?"

"Recently, the TIA has discovered some strange behavior. First, it was the Galarans trying to buy a Goa'uld mind-controlling drug, a prototype based on the Nish'ta drug. Not only is it capable of turning people into obedient slaves, but it also causes damage to the brain and nervous system. It's most probably because it is a half-finished product," Daniel explained.

"Okay, they are going after some dangerous stuff. What more?"

"We've also discovered that they are trying to create a sort of confederation with as many worlds in the Milky Way as they can, but only with less developed worlds than theirs, which would put them at the very top in the confederation of theirs. They've also been smart about it. Those worlds can easily be coaxed into joining by giving gifts to a few influential people in their respective worlds. Once they have those people in their pockets, it is difficult for said world to keep their distance. Even if the populace rebels against the idea, those influential people can call the Galarans for help in quelling any dissent."

"Yes, that's nothing new. We had similar problems with the Jaffa who tried something similar. Thankfully, we had Grai'ac's faction to stop them."

"That problem wasn't solved, though," Daniel responded. "Not completely anyway."

"What?"

"It isn't anything big, but there are still indications that Grai'ac's faction is still selling advanced technologies to other, less advanced, planets. We have confirmation of a sale of weapons, Naquadah generators, as well as of everything that can be attached to them."

That was a problem. Most people would think that selling a generator wasn't a big deal, but they would be wrong. Not if the seller gave the knowledge necessary to build them, operate them, and how to refuel them, but that wasn't something that Grai'ac would do. By selling them the generators and other products the other races couldn't make, they would become reliant on them. From management to replenishing the spent fuel, once they were hooked, there was nothing they could do except reverting to the stone age. Even if the Jaffa afterward raised the prices. "They are still doing that?"

"They are. And it is unlikely that the Galarans will ever stop, except in case we decide to threaten the Galarans with sanctions."

"Yeah, we are not going to do that. If the Terrans start openly opposing the Jaffa, even if it is only Grai'ac's faction, other Jaffa would resent us and could be swayed to change sides. It would cause a lot of trouble to Teal'c and Bra'tac and to what they are trying to build."

"We have to leave this to Teal'c. He's adamant in getting to the bottom of this. Although, we predict that it will hasten the breaking of the JFN. The moment the war with the Vargas is over and the Milky Way is at peace the Jaffa will break in two, I guarantee it."

"It's the same old story. The Jaffa don't know what to do with themselves when there's no one to shoot at. Anyway, we were talking about the Galarans, so let's get back to that. Have there been other developments? Something that shows what they are up to?"

"There were a few planets that were attacked by the Galarans," Daniel continued.

"What? When did this happen?" Jack asked. It is not like things like that happen overnight.

"While you were gallivanting through time," Daniel responded with a smirk.

Here it was that phrase again. "I'm not gallivanting anywhere. Besides, I have just been away for three days! How can entire worlds get attacked in such a short time? Also, why haven't I seen any report on this matter in that pile of paperwork that Walter gave me today?"

"There was no report because Klaus and I are taking care of it. I didn't want to pile up more work on you the same day you came back," Daniel replied. He was clearly considerate of him. "All planets were attacked at the same time. It was a pretty coordinated attack. We were able to get wind of one attack on a planet just in time. We were able to help them by sending Maybourne."

"Maybourne? How did he help? And why are we letting the Galarans attack other worlds without any reply?" Jack felt confused. There was no way the Terrans wouldn't do anything if the Galarans went around the galaxy targeting planets.

"As said before, the Galarans are doing it by getting the collaboration of a few influential people inside the governments of those worlds and then they arrive with the excuse of being called to help in squashing rebels to the current regime. Another way is by causing an incident in a way that it seems the other side is guilty. They tried to do the same on the planet where Maybourne went. The ruler on the planet almost fell for it. When they refused to leave, she almost ordered her soldiers to attack the Galarans and to remove them by force. It would have caused an incident strong enough to give the Galarans an excuse to send troops. Of course, once they landed on the planet, they would fabricate even more incidents, giving them enough cause to take control."

It wasn't anything new. The Germans did something similar by staging attacks committed by Polish troops. The next day Germany invaded Poland. A standard false flag operation. In this incident with the Galarans, the idea was similar. The point was the same, which was to give the Galarans an excuse to retaliate, be it because a few of their people were killed, injured, or just imprisoned, it did not matter. "So Maybourne stopped it."

"He did. He warned their ruler in time and even managed to persuade her to join his growing empire."

"With the resources at his disposal and the current situation in that region, it would be strange if he wasn't able to convince her."

"Well, yeah, that's true. Maybourne did have a lot to offer," Daniel replied, but there was something strange in the way he said it.

"What's going on? What are you not telling me?" Jack asked with narrowed eyes.

"It's just that… to strengthen the connection between the empire and this new world… it's just."

"Say it already! What could he have offered to them?" Jack asked. The Terrans had given Maybourne many technologies so that he could quickly expand his empire. However, many of those technologies were not to fall into other hands.

"I wouldn't say that he offered something. It's just that… it appears that they have decided to deepen their bond by joining in marriage."

He trembled while unconsciously squeezing the almost empty beer in his hand. "What?!"

"Maybourne is getting a fourth wife."

"I should have shot him when I had the chance!" Even while he talked, his body wouldn't stop from trembling. "I-I don't care if he has four wives! Why would I care about that? I-I…"

"Yeah, I can see exactly how much you _don't_ care," Daniel responded, sarcasm dripping with each word spoken.

"Daniel! You're not helping!" he retorted while angrily grabbing and opening another beer. _'Would a six pack even be enough tonight?'_ He wasn't sure.

"Anyway, that's what we discovered while you were away."

Jack leaned back in his chair, no more thinking about Maybourne. It was true that recent actions taken by the Galarans were of concern, but there weren't many options on what to do. "What about a nice diplomatic response saying something like 'we know what you did, and we don't like it'?"

"That's a given. In a few days I'm going to meet with my counterpart in the Galaran government and, among other things, this will be what I'm going to tell them."

Jack thought for a moment and then understood. "Oh, so you're asking me about what's coming afterward."

Daniel nodded. "The Galarans must know that we would eventually find out. Nevertheless, they still went with their bad plan. Such behavior is telling me that they won't stop even after we warn them. Also, warning them, but then doing nothing when they keep going with their plan of dominating over other worlds, isn't a choice. We would look weak or at the very least indecisive."

"I'm still not sure why they are doing it, or why they think that they'll gain something in the end."

"I think two factors have influenced their decision to do this. First, we told the galaxy at large that we are going a step back from galactic affairs. It is the right step for us since we have so much knowledge now that we've received from the four great races that it will take us decades to assimilate just the basics. We also went through _Genesis_ , which changed what we are on a genetic level. We now need some time to understand who we are and our role in the universe before we go around the galaxy telling others how to behave. Lastly, the Terran Federation is still in its infancy. We still have problems setting up the boundary between the federal government and the local planetary governments. We are also planning for the Langarans and Tollans to join our federation, which keeps our hands full," Daniel kept rambling.

"I get it. I get it. No need to tell me the reason in so many details. Rather, what's the second reason?"

"Sorry, I lost myself there for a moment," Daniel replied apologetically. He must have a lot on his plate. "Second, the war with the Vargas began."

"The war you say."

"Yes. With the war raging in the Milky Way, the Terrans and the Jaffa are busy dealing with it and unable to do much else. We are stretched thin, especially since we are now going on the offensive with most of our assets detached in distant galaxies."

"Bastards! It would be nice if we could threaten them by saying that if they don't cease with what they're doing, we could be late when the Vargas come invading their homeworld?" Jack responded.

"They would know it is merely a bluff. No matter what a few people in the Galaran government decided, we can't let their population pay the price by letting those monsters the Vargas are employing eat them. And the Galarans know that."

"You're right, I know, but I still don't like it, dammit! We also can't be too forceful. We don't want for anti-Terran sentiment to start spreading across the Milky Way," Jack responded. The situation wasn't as easy as it seemed. It would be easy if the solution were to respond with force, but if they did that-

"If we did that, we would turn out to be the bullies of this galaxy. The story would somehow spin in that direction. I'm sure of it."

"I'm sure of it too," Jack replied, taking for a moment to collect his thoughts. It didn't help that he was tired. However, with another sip of beer, an idea came to him. "If they keep at it, we publicly endorse Arkhan Empire."

"What?"

"I don't like the thought of giving Maybourne more power than what he already has, but since his Empire and the Galarans are near each other, we can threaten the Galarans to publicly support the Arkhan Empire if they don't quit with their current mischiefs."

Daniel also became pensive. "That's not a bad idea. The Arkhan Empire already got a planet on its side that the Galarans were targeting. In the end, they were the ones who pushed the planet to join the Arkhan Empire. They must be pissed about that. If we threaten to give support to their competition, they might decide to fold. Ah, but there's the Lucian Republic to think about."

Jack again stopped for a moment to think about what Daniel meant by that. The Lucian republic was a world where the leader of the defunct Lucian Alliance has set up a legit government. He was doing a pretty decent job, and there was no pirate act or other questionable behavior the Terrans may frown upon. It was all by the book. Odai Ventrell must have learned his lesson. "They too are expanding on that side of the galaxy by annexing worlds, aren't they? The Arkhan Empire might get stuck between two strong powers."

"Yes, one of the jobs of the Arkhan Empire is to provide as a counterweight to the Lucian Republic and to stop their expansion in that sector."

Odai Ventrell was currently the Permanent President of the Lucian Republic, and as far as ex-bad-guy goes, he had reformed enough for the Terrans not to step in. He was now a legit leader, one with whom the Terrans even have an amicable relationship. However, that would eventually end. Although he was a permanent president, which meant that he could not be removed from office by anyone, he remained a mortal. If he expanded the Lucian Republic's dominion by too much and then some dictator takes his place after his death, there's no way to know what might happen to the worlds in that sector. That was why the TIA wanted to hamper their expansion, and the Arkhan Empire was the perfect candidate to do it. "Maybourne can take it."

Daniel stopped for a moment. "You're not punishing Maybourne for getting married again, are you?"

"Of course not!" Jack responded, resenting the accusation.

"Sure, sure. Just keep in mind that we won't have many assets in this galaxy for as long as the Vargas are here. If Maybourne gets cornered from both sides, we won't be in a position to help."

"That won't happen. That guy is building a decent fleet. He should be able to deal with both without too much trouble. We are providing him with most of the resources he needs on the cheap anyway."

"True, but a good portion of what he is building are merchant ships. Those ships have shields and some armament, but you can't call them warships. He also needs to keep appearances. If warships start popping out like candy without spending any money on them, other races will quickly put two and two together and realize that someone powerful is backing him up, which will point them to us. That's something we don't want to happen."

"Okay, then let's help him make some money, both to cover up our involvement and to further speed up his development."

"How?"

"Well, Klaus told me there could be a good market for the Corvettes his people built, and now even the Navy likes. As a small multipurpose ship, even the downgraded version is much better than a Tel'tak. We give Maybourne the blueprints for the downgraded version and let him sell it to whoever is interested. Klaus said that there would be benefits from doing it for us too. Our agents would have a better excuse where they got the ship because they can point to the Arkhan Empire as the source. Also, this could limit the sells Grai'ac is doing," Jack explained his idea. They could also put trackers in those ships they sell. Klaus would be grateful for that.

"This sounds good, except…" Daniel began speaking, but then stopped for some reason.

Jack thought about it for a moment, but he couldn't find any fault in the idea. "What's the problem?"

"It's just that we are trying to stop the Galarans with their nefarious tactics from spreading, and we are doing the same with the Lucian Republic because we fear what would happen after Odai's death. But, at the same time, we are making the Arkhan Empire grow bigger than we ever planned."

That was true. What was the point of stopping some from expanding while helping another do the same? The answer was easy. "The devil you know."

"Huh?"

"Maybourne is the devil we know. And with the nanites and the serum taken from the Aschen that guy will live for another century at the very least. I bet he'll ask for cloning tech as a reward for dumping too much work on him."

"I get it. Since Maybourne's our guy and we know he'll stay in power for at least another century, we don't have to worry for at least that long. After that, hopefully, the war with the Vargas will remain a distant bad memory, and we will have time to deal with whatever resulted from today's decisions," Daniel concluded, nodding in approval.

"I see you like the idea," Jack responded while smirking. His second beer was empty, so he took another one. "Daniel, drink your beer. You're making me feel bad."

"Sorry," Daniel responded absentmindedly, but, nonetheless he obediently gulped down the rest of his first beer. Jack tossed him another, which he awkwardly caught.

He was on his third beer, which meant that he should soon go to bed. Still, he had the feeling there was more Daniel wanted to discuss. Probably things unrelated to the Galarans or the Lucian Republic. "Is there some other topic you want to discuss?"

"Do you think it's a viable plan what our thinkers have come up with to bring Liam home?" Daniel asked. He was not very fond of the plan.

"I was making progress in dissuading them from doing something so stupid but then was sent to the distant past where I spent the past three days," Jack responded. He didn't like the idea one bit, the same as Daniel didn't. He believed the whole plan was more for the scientists who were working on it to prove that they can do it, than their heartfelt wish to have Liam back.

"I think that using a star as the power source to power the Stargate to create a stable wormhole at such ridiculous distances is reckless at best, insane more likely. Sam agrees with me, but Rodney and the Asgard scientist working on the problem are saying that they can predict any instability in the connection or any fluctuations in the energy flow. I don't know. They can maybe do it, but I think this is just wishful thinking on their part and that it will all come down to luck."

"Agreed. Even though I'm not a scientist, I'm smart enough to know that no one can predict every variable when dealing with the reactions inside a star. Even worse, since they said that the ideal star to try it was a blue star. The Destiny was never meant to come close to such a hot star. The ship is a few million years too old to attempt such crap, for crying out loud!" Jack almost shouted the last few words. Only now he understood how frustrated he was about the whole thing. He wanted Liam back but not if it meant risking others' lives.

"The silliest thing about this whole thing is that the person with the greatest chance of succeeding is Liam," Daniel responded while feeling dejected.

"Yeah. That is if Liam's memories were intact," Jack said. He too was feeling sad.

There was no sign that Liam was getting his memories back - any of them. He was still the same as the day they found him, which was with no memories of who he was. His current state was the main reason why they were rushing the whole thing. They wanted to bring him back to provide him with the best care available. However, risking sending the man to an early grave, in his opinion, wasn't the right way to go.

"Don't you have a meeting with Aenea to see if she can put a stop to it?"

"I did have a meeting scheduled, for yesterday. Unfortunately, I was more than a century apart at the time - talking about bad luck. It's not like I'm traveling every day. And yet, when you have important business, then I get tossed back in time without warning. I went wearing only my underwear. Again!"

"I thought you learned your lesson," Daniel asked.

"Daniel, I'm asleep when it happens, and I don't know when it will happen. So, what do you want me to do?"

"Start sleeping in a T-shirt and long pants every night until this time traveling ordeal is over," Daniel deadpanned.

Why didn't he think of that? "I-I might try doing that."

"So, are you going to meet with her or not?"

"I am, I am. I already scheduled a meeting for tomorrow. I'll propose a better plan when we see each other."

"What plan?"

"I think that if we redirect the Sphere by just a little, we can make it come 700 million light-years from the Destiny. That's a distance the gate can take without risks," he explained.

"True. That would minimize the risk, but there's still the problem of using a star as the power source."

"That problem is also solvable. Since it will take some time for the Sphere to get in range, they will have plenty of time to reach a black hole. During that time, the sphere will also build whatever is necessary for them to tap into that black hole safely. Once they are in range, the Sphere is first to initiate the connection and send the freshly built components. After that, there's no risk in sending Liam to the Sphere through a stable and tested connection. From there, Liam will hop through supergates until he's finally home."

"It does sound like a safer solution. How long will it take for the Sphere to get in range?"

"Unfortunately, we are talking about months. There will also have to be some changes in the plans we made for our offensive against the Vargas because of that. The sphere will pass much farther from a potential ally. Consequently, it will take that much more time to meet them."

"That's something nobody will like hearing."

"I agree, but I think that getting Liam safely home is more important than keeping with our schedule, don't you agree?"

"I do. Liam could shed some light on what he went through in the past two and a half years and what we can expect. The restoration of his ship database isn't going great anyway, so we can't expect more data to come from there."

"That's assuming he gets his memories back," Daniel warned.

"I'm sure he will," Jack replied with confidence. "You got your memories back too."

"What makes you think that what happened to Liam is the same as what happened to me? The reason why my memories were temporarily lost was that I broke the rules and Oma had to erase them before tossing me back into the mortal realm."

"I'm not saying that what happened to Liam is the same as in your case, but there's no doubt in my mind that ascended beings are involved."

Daniel thought about it for a moment. "Yeah, planets don't simply disappear."

Daniel hit the bullseye. The planet where they had found Liam disappeared, probably immediately after they left it. That is something that mortals cannot do. It was something that only ascended beings could do, and from what he knew it couldn't have been just one but many ascended working on it. Even for them, it must not have been easy to make a suitable planet appear out of nowhere. The planet wasn't even close in appearance or composition to the rest of the habitable planets in the galaxy where the Destiny was. Liam had a haven to spend time on until we could find him. That was the whole purpose of the planet to have existed. "This is probably the reason why the ascended told us to board the Destiny."

"I still find it strange to think that the Destiny just passed through a galaxy where Liam was."

"You are looking at it from the wrong angle. The ascended were the ones who took Liam in that galaxy. After that, they contacted us and told us to send people on board the Destiny," Jack explained how he saw this whole situation.

"Yeah, that makes more sense. But that means that the ascended scooped Liam up from where he was more than six months ago. At least that is if Liam's testimony on how long he had been on that planet is to be trusted."

Right now, Liam only knew how to speak Alterran, and when asked how long he'd been on the planet, he replied 150 revolutions of the planet, which would closely equate to six months. Still, it might have been some time before Liam started counting or he missed a few days. Doctors on the Destiny were saying that Liam was pretty out of it when they brought him aboard. Even now the situation wasn't much better. "It is such a loss to lose that planet. It would have been a perfect sanctuary for our people."

"The planet where those _Sloths_ are living isn't so bad. At least that's what I got from the reports."

"You meant to say that it is survivable, but compared to the description Eli and the others gave about the planet where Liam was found it is a far cry," Jack pointed out.

"Hey, now that you mention it, isn't it now time for everybody on that mission to return? I mean, we found Liam, and that was the reason why the ascended sent us there. Why not let everybody come back home when we fetch Liam?"

"They don't want to come back," Jack replied.

"Why?"

Since there were no ruins of lost civilizations to be found in that galaxy, Daniel wasn't interested. Therefore, he found it strange for others wanting to stay. Though, Jack had to admit. He too didn't see the appeal in that galaxy. "Daniel, how should I know? They are a bunch of scientists."

"Got it."

"Besides, there is a chance we can use the Reapers present there to our advantage. If our people can board an old model mothership than what we have here, they might succeed in getting us the data we need and failed to get here in the Milky Way," Jack added, thinking how this might help them get rid of the reapers forever.

"Let's hope so. The reapers are multiplying at a frightening pace. Even the weapon Sam developed is only slowing them down."

"The weapon has had great results in protecting star systems from the reapers, but it does nothing in helping us find where they are growing their numbers. The galaxy is too big to search," Jack said, but then he remembered something. There should have been a report on Weir's next encounter. "By the way, how's Weir's mission going?"

"It went well. Weir made first contact with some glowing aliens that live in space. Energy makes 98% of their body, which is weird. Our people are guessing that matter that makes the remaining 2% is to keep the energy from dissipating. They are also capable of entering hyperspace where they can feed on the exotic particles present in that dimension."

"Oh, so their food is found in hyperspace. That's a very peculiar race."

"They still need to absorb matter from normal space and absorb energy from stars. They are a nomadic race, so they were able to survive the Vargas incursion into their home galaxy, but they also suffered terrible losses. It seems that their offspring can only be born inside nebulas with a precise composition. That's their Achilles heel the Vargas exploited. However, fights against the grownup aliens aren't easy, even for the Vargas. Can you imagine fighting an alien made mostly of energy and the size of a battleship? Those aliens can create a powerful energy discharge capable of damaging or destroying even the Vargas ships. Because if it, the Vargas decided to leave that galaxy alone."

"Bastards! Going after their children. I haven't seen any other race as ruthless as the Vargas."

"I think of them more as machines than as living organism, so I'm not posing myself such questions - like their morality or if they are ruthless or whatever. They think like programmed machines. They are maybe more advanced than the reapers, but I think of them as the same disease that we need to remove from the universe."

While he spoke, Daniel seemed so pissed at them that it made him shiver. Thank god he thought of them as just machines! "Anyway, are these aliens joining the fight?"

"They are. The aliens said the same to Liam, and they repeated it to Weir this time around as well. They think the Vargas will sooner or later come back. So, if there are other races ready to fight them, they are also prepared to help."

"That's good news. Next, we have to wait and see how Sheppard's mission goes," Jack said. In a few days, Sheppard would meet another race. One that Liam had flagged as very important. The damage to Liam's ship caused the loss of most of the data. However, the information saying that getting this race's collaboration was paramount was intact. It seemed that, for some reason, Liam valued these aliens even more than the Aklarians, which was strange if you compared their sizes. "This race has inhabited only a few star systems in a single galaxy. And yet, Liam wanted us to befriend them at all cost. I wonder why that is."

"Well, if you think how, even though they are not as numerous as the Vargas, they still managed to chase away an enemy as powerful as them. There must be something special about them, right?"

"Agreed. I hope everything goes well. Getting another powerful ally before Shepard's next mission would be great."

"Next mission? Ah, the IC 1101 galaxy, is it?" Daniel must have remembered what the next destination for Shepard's task force was.

The IC 1101 was the most massive known galaxy in the observable universe. The one billion light years distant behemoth was four million light years across, and it contained one hundred trillion stars. It was difficult to believe that it took less time to travel to the Pegasus galaxy than to traverse the IC 1101 galaxy from end to end.

The IC 1101 galaxy was also a Vargas and Vargas minions infested beehive.

"Yes, the infamous IC 1101 galaxy. I liked it better before we got Liam's report detailing what's in it. A dozen races under the Vargas control. Some races coerced, but most have joined the Vargas willingly. There're two dozen hubs filled with anomalies connecting distant galaxies, some even twenty billion light years away. It is the most extensive Vargas' hub known to us. If we knock that beehive down, even by a notch or two, it could create massive logistical problems for them."

"I heard. Some are saying that if we manage to take control of IC 1101, the Milky Way will become safe from further Vargas incursions."

Daniel was right. All roads that led here passed through IC 1101. The only problem was how to take control of it. Even with the support of allies and even with years at their disposal, the success was far from guaranteed. They also couldn't expect to win if they waged a symmetrical type of warfare. They did not have the assets to sweep through a galaxy millions of light-years across, directly engaging the enemy, without leaving dangerous vulnerabilities.

Task forces like the one commanded by Admiral Shepard would take the central stage performing hit and run tactics meant to destroy those races that joined the Vargas willingly and to free those coerced in doing the same. Also, if they manage to plug a few holes and stop the Vargas from bringing reinforcements from other galaxies, there could be hope of even winning this war. Or at least that was the first step they must succeed in before going any deeper into Vargas territory.

"Ah, but it won't be easy. The scale of this war is just ridiculous," Jack said while leaning back in his chair.

"That's why we need to proceed step by step. Let's not think of the finish line. First, we need to close the Vargas largest known hub which is in the IC 1101 galaxy to prevent any more Vargas fleets from coming here. We both know the strength of their fleets will only increase; it is to be expected."

"True. What came here is probably just a taste of what the Vargas can send our way. It was what they were able to scrape in a short time."

"Which means that we need to plug that hole. Without it, even the Vargas won't be prepared to send their fleets for a billion or more light years long trek. Their engines would break before reaching us. Or even if they manage to reach us, it would be in a decade or two from now at the earliest."

"And only after we do that, we start thinking of our next step. It makes sense," Jack said while yawning.

Daniel must have noticed. "You're too tired, and to me, two beers is enough. A little walk from here to my house is just what I need right now to clear my thoughts."

"You're right. Tired as I am and with three beers in my stomach, the only thing left for me to do right now is to take a shower and then go to sleep," Jack said while slowly getting up. "Good night, Daniel. See you tomorrow in another exhilarating day filled with mountains of paperwork."

"Good night, Jack," Daniel replied, he too leaving the porch at the same time.

* * *

Inside Respite's Combat Information Center (CIC) located in the rear section of the bridge, Admiral John Sheppard intently watched the holographic projection above the large central table showing an enormous amount of data. As the commanding officer of taskforce TF-007, his job had turned into that of a fleet commander instead of the more administrative nature his earlier post had, the one he had while still back in the Pegasus galaxy. It meant that he was now the one who had to make difficult decisions with people's lives on the line. He was the one that needed to shoulder the highest burden in the whole task force, as opposed to people like Caldwell, who was Respite's current captain, who only had responsibilities to follow his orders and to make sure his ship was running smoothly. Caldwell was the same as a god on board the Respite and Shepard had no say in how he ran the day to day routine. In a way, he envied Caldwell who turned down the promotion to become an admiral. Sheppard too wanted to oversee only a single ship, but Jack had tricked him by whispering sweet words into his ear, and now there was no going back. He had to deal with his new job as the admiral in charge of an entire task force and perform his duties to the best of his abilities.

Since Sheppard came from the air force, he had a lot on his plate in learning how best to utilize the ships at his disposal and to hone everybody's skills to perfection before any real combat occurred. Therefore, drills had become a daily routine for the various crews inside TF-007, all to create a higher level of cooperation between the different ships. No matter how advanced their technology was, how powerful their shields were, or how destructive their beam weapons may be if the task force wasn't working like a well-oiled unit, it would perform subpar. As they were traveling to the rendezvous point where they were scheduled to meet a potential ally, there was no reason not to spend that time by doing combat simulations. Flying through space was tedious most often than not, and no one was against a good simulation where they would fight against a randomly generated opponent the onboard AI created. Therefore, they had played through three simulations in a row this very morning, and Sheppard was now analyzing the results.

There was a massive difference in the capabilities of the various ship types present inside the task force. The fifteen Defiants were fast, highly maneuverable and above all were peerless when it came to teamwork. That was possible in good part due to the developed neural immersion system utilized solely by the crews of the Defiants. It allowed the crewmembers to connect to the ship through a neural interface while placed inside individual pods that among other things were keeping a person safe, even in case of ridiculously high accelerations. The crew's reaction time, their ability to communicate their thoughts to others instantly, and the pods safeguarding their bodies through dangerous accelerations were allowing the Defiants to perform above expectations. However, because of it, the little ships also needed a high level of autonomy because constant instructions would disrupt their coordination, which limited what they could do inside a fleet that had other ships classes. To make things worse, the crew could spend only thirty minutes inside the pods before people would start suffering side effects, and after that, the crew was out of action for at least ten minutes. It meant the crew couldn't use the system continuously. It was also best if not all Defiants used the immersion system together, as it would be dangerous when the thirty minutes period passed. Of course, that was the case only if a battle lasted longer than half an hour, which all simulated fighting did.

The five heavy cruisers were a different story. Since they were capital ships with a much larger crew, it was impossible to use the same immersion system as the one used onboard the Defiants. It wasn't so bad for such a class of ships since capital ships relied on their shields more than on their ability to dodge incoming fire. Also, once a heavy cruiser set its sight on a target, it usually faced it head on without extensively relying on evasion, as the Defiants did. This allowed the heavy cruisers to display great results even without employing tactics that necessitated a shorter reaction time. The heavy cruisers also had the highest firepower per tonnage ratio, which meant they needed to be used differently than the Defiants. However, with such distinctive capabilities, it was difficult to make them work together. This made Sheppard think that he should give them separated duties during the incoming simulations.

In the first simulation, they had the assault carriers and the heavy builder ship in tow. The mission was to defeat the enemy while protecting the more vulnerable vessels in the task force. The simulation was set as an ambush the task force had fallen into, so he didn't have much time to decide. Sheppard took three of the five heavy cruisers and put them in the rear to protect the more vulnerable ships. It seemed logical to him to do so, but it turned out to be a mistake. It wasn't a critical one, on the level of a blunder, but it still lowered his overall score by a significant margin. He made two wrong assumptions. The first was thinking too little of the massive builder ship and the two assault carriers. They were not a good match for fighting capital ships, that was a fact that everybody knew, but they were far from defenseless vessels that needed to be carefully babysat. In truth, the best strategy was to leave as few as six Defiants to guard them maybe even luring the enemy into thinking they were not protected adequately and ending up overextending their forces. They would quickly realize that those ships had very powerful shields installed, shields capable of keeping them safe for quite some time. No matter if they'd fell for it or not, the task force would have been able to hit the enemy much harder than what his strategy allowed.

The Respite's AI was merciless and had given him a thirty points lower score because of this decision alone. His second mistake was that he used the Respite as the task force's spear. It was because he was on it and because he liked to be the one who charged first, ahead of the others. This was true ever since his days as an SGA team leader when he always tried to lead from the front.

This was very bad. The score dropped by another twenty points because of it. In truth, the Respite needed to keep a more centralized position and react to the situation by moving wherever the enemy had the most potent offensive power. Instead of using the flagship to spearhead the attack, he needed to use the Respite to absorb as much of the incoming fire as possible. The Respite was the only one with the Aegis shielding system installed, which gave the ship three protective layers, while its offensive power, though greater, wasn't overwhelmingly so when compared to that of a heavy cruiser. Now that he knew the results of the analysis, it all made sense and promised to think next time before acting recklessly.

He got fifty demerit points because of his stupid decisions, which were making his teeth cringe in frustration.

' _Am I even fit to be an admiral who leads a task force with thousands of souls in it?'_ Sheppard thought frustrated.

Together with the other mistakes that the various captains and crews made in the first simulation, the AI mercilessly summed it up to a whopping 127 demerit points, of which fifty were his. This was bad, and the worst part was that it was just a simulation. Under the pressure of real battle, they would fare even worse, he knew it. He sighed. The first simulation ended in victory, so it wasn't a failure, but they could have done much better.

The other two simulations ended with similarly disappointing results. Sheppard still tended to rush with the ship he was on the moment something unexpected happened. The AI was very good at surprises, and it put forth situations in which the crews would make the most mistakes, he included. From this, he also learned that changing strategies in the middle of a fight should happen rarely. Changing a plan abruptly could cause more harm than good. Lastly, the last simulation was finally with the aid of the AI's feature of giving suggestions on the best strategies and tactics to use. Even here there were problems. The AI first considered his decision-making process as being too slow. In short, it took him too long to choose between the AI's proposed suggestions. The AI put a few ideas that were too bold and eventually turned wrong because of something unforeseen happening. He had followed the suggestion too blindly, not even realizing how exposed his fleet elements had become if suddenly reinforcement rushed in. The AI gave two ideas, both would result in victory. The first suggestion was bolder, and it had a better score. And indeed, it would have been the best choice if more Vargas ships didn't show at the most critical moment. It ended with the loss of two heavy cruisers and six Defiants before they succeeded in destroying the enemy fleet. On the other hand, if he took the more conservative approach that the AI had also suggested, they would have lost only two Defiants and would have suffered moderate or substantial damage to two heavy cruisers instead of outright losing them. It was the difference between a victory with thirty or so people dying and a win with six hundred people in his task force dying.

"This AI is merciless," Sheppard spoke after quite some time.

"It needs to be," Ryan, his XO, replied. "It was instructed to put scenarios that would be especially difficult for us and to hammer it into us until we learn to make the proper decisions."

That was a good remark. They needed to learn how to make proper decisions. Not the best, but the proper one. Overextending, thinking that the fight will be easy, following blindly the AI's suggestions, or bravados in which he used the Respite at the fleet's spear for no good reason other than because he was onboard and liked to charge head first were mistakes an admiral needed to learn not to make. Before the Vargas, commanding officers stationed aboard ships had it easy. The Wraith were not big on devising complex strategies, and their fleets were made up of fewer warships. This led to fewer plans available, usually ending in a frontal assault or, if the enemy had a stronger force, disengaging and leaving to fight another day. The Ori had very little in terms of ships in the Milky Way galaxy, which forced them to evade a direct confrontation with the ever-growing Terran fleet. The Goa'uld had been finished even before the Terrans had a proper space navy, and the Leptinians were too weird to compare them to anything or to use them as a teaching material when explaining various strategies. But the Vargas was a different beast that needed to be tackled seriously.

"I miss the days of managing the military in the Pegasus galaxy," Sheppard lamented.

"That's an administrative job, sir. I don't think it suits you. Once you've spent more time gaining experience as the commander of this task force, I believe you will realize that this job fits you better," Ryan responded.

Was this lip service? He wasn't sure. What he did know though was that he had to improve as Ryan had said. He needed to reach the place where he wouldn't make stupid mistakes. And he needed to do it before they arrived at the IC 1101 galaxy in one month. They were to continue their voyage at best speed the moment negotiations with this potential ally were over. In this month it will take them to get there, he planned to hone both his and the crew's skills to an acceptable degree.

"Hopefully, we'll be ready for whatever awaits us there," he muttered, not addressing anyone in particular.

His task force wouldn't take the central stage, nor would other task forces part of the Second Great Alliance. Instead, the Aklarians would. Since they had the largest fleet of all members in their alliance, it was logical that they would have the most significant role in a galaxy as large as IC 1101. Still, the top brass was planning a lot of things, and it all sounded reasonable and very logical, but everybody in the military knew that no plan survived first contact with the enemy. Therefore, they would have to rethink a lot of what had been planned at a later time.

"So, who's the winner in the last simulation?" Sheppard asked.

"For captains, it's Caldwell again," Ryan responded.

Caldwell again had the best score among all the captain. "Maybe he should be in this chair instead of me."

"He refused to become an admiral, saying that he's much better at being a captain."

"Who isn't?" Sheppard snorted. "Still, he may not have that choice for much longer."

"I believe that he's the best candidate to replace you as commander of this task force after you're promoted to a two-star admiral and are given a more important command post," Ryan said. "Of course, after you submit Caldwell for promotion as the next commander of this task force, he will hate your guts from that day onward."

"Yeah, I know. That's why I'll send you to inform the man of his forced promotion," Sheppard responded with a mischievous grin. "Just hope he's the type of guy who doesn't shoot the messenger."

Hearing his remark, Ryan's face crumpled. "Sir, it is the tradition for a superior officer to give such good news to those under their command. They must do it in person, sir."

"It might be tradition, but the Terran Space Navy is new, and you know that both Jack O'Neill and I are not people who'll follow every set tradition," Sheppard replied while smirking.

"Understood, sir," Ryan replied reluctantly. He apparently didn't like it.

"Good! So, who's next?" he asked.

"This time it was the pilot of Defiant 004 who scored the highest," Ryan reported.

"The pilot from Defiant 004 and the one from Defiant 012 are always the ones with the top scores. This time it was the pilot of 004 to snatch the victory. Are they competing or something?"

"They are half-brothers, sir."

"Oh, boy. That explains it. We'll watch and see how far they can go. Let's hope their rivalry doesn't go too far," he surmised his thoughts on the matter. "Did Respite's tactical officer win first place this time too?"

"He did. Once again he displayed amazing control over the weapon systems."

"I see. The man really has a knack for it," he said while watching the relevant data floating above the table.

"It's more than just that, sir."

Sheppard looked at him puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"I've noticed it some time ago, sir. Those three and a few others are showing abilities that go beyond simple good judgment, quick thinking, or fast reflexes. Both brothers were able to react to the sudden changes in the simulation faster than what should have been humanly possible."

"Explain it a little more. I'm still not getting it."

"Until recently, the fastest reaction time was achieved by a competitive game player who had a reaction time of 120 milliseconds. After Genesis, though, there were people – again, game players – who could react in 100 milliseconds. This is well within the predictions of the scientists who are studying the benefits of the Genesis Project. However, the two brothers showed reaction times below 50 milliseconds and at one time even a reaction time of minus 10 milliseconds."

"Minus ten?" What does that mean?

"It means that they reacted before the event happened, sir. They simply knew ahead of time and reacted."

Now he understood. They were part of a small number of people who were special. His XO didn't know this, but all admirals had been ordered to look for such people under their command. A study was being conducted meant to improve those people with special abilities so that they could one day use them better than how they could now. Unfortunately, presently they did not know how to activate their skills - it would happen for no reason or cause, except maybe stress - and using such abilities would exhaust them quickly. In short, the way it was now, it was too unreliable to be used and relied upon by the military. The last information he had received was that they were working on an amplifier capable of bringing those abilities forth in a more stable form. Even if it couldn't be used for a prolonged period, it would still be great if people like the two pilots could use their ability when it mattered the most, even if the amplifier allowed them to use them for mere minutes.

"Understood. It seems there's something else going on here. I think that it would be great to have pilots who can predict events before they happen," Sheppard responded.

"Unfortunately, they do not always display those abilities," Ryan responded. He was about to speak more but was interrupted.

"Admiral Sheppard, we are nearing our rendezvous point," Caldwell's voice was heard over the comm system.

Sheppard got up from his chair, "We'll continue after the meeting is over. Let's get to the bridge for now."

As he approached them, the doors that connected to the bridge parted ways. He briskly walked on the deck, moving to sit on the empty chair next to Caldwell while Ryan stopped slightly behind him and on his left. "ETA?"

"Just about to exit hyperspace, Admiral," Caldwell answered promptly.

Sheppard didn't really like Caldwell calling him an admiral, as there was a time when Caldwell was the one with a higher authority, especially when aboard the man's ship. However, it was protocol to call him as such.

Before he could say more, the Respite exited hyperspace. The change on the frontal display was evident, now displaying regular space and the few ships in the task force that exited hyperspace ahead of the Respite.

"Do we have anything on sensors?" Caldwell asked.

"I'm just receiving initial telemetry, sir," the crewmember sitting in front of the sensor stations replied. "Contact! Bearing, 65 degrees! Inclination, minus 5 degrees! Distance, 20 thousand kilometers! Detecting twelve ships of unknown configuration! Sizes ranging from cruiser to supercarrier class."

It was easy to understand how big those ships were since it was practice comparing unknown vessels with their own ship's classes. Even though a dreadnaught and a supercarrier were in a similar size category, the officer specifying that it was a supercarrier was relevant, as their configuration and capabilities differed significantly. Also, what kind of threat they could pose was different. Sheppard saw Caldwell looking at him expectantly. Sometimes he forgot that he was the man in charge who'd have to decide what the entire task force needed to do. A sensation that maybe this wasn't the right job for him was growing again. He sighed. "Let's not spook them by making a micro jump in front of them. Keep formation as is, set condition Two just in case, and lets slowly get closer."

"Tactical, set condition Two," Caldwell said.

"Aye, setting condition Two," the tactical officer replied.

"Helm plot a zero-zero intercept course. Acceleration 500 gravities," Caldwell ordered again.

"Aye, Captain. Plotting a zero-zero intercept course, with an acceleration of 4900 meters per second squared (mps2)," the crewmember at the helm responded.

"Comm, share those orders with the rest of the task force through the Battlenet," Caldwell ordered again.

"Relaying orders, aye, sir."

Things had changed from the easy-going atmosphere present onboard their ships when they had barely started. Now, every order had to be reported back to the commanding officer as not to make any mistakes. It made sense to check that a crewmember didn't understand the given orders wrongly. But it was boring as hell listening to them saying the same things over and over. Still, deep down he knew the adoption of the practice drilled in the Navy to exhaustion was a thing they had to do. They were going to face the Vargas. There shouldn't be any mistakes because the Vargas would not miss such opportunities.

"Sir, all ships are reporting their readiness," the comm. Officer replied.

"Engage," Caldwell replied simply.

"Aye, sir, we are on our way," helm reported. "ETA, 17 minutes and 20 seconds."

"Space is truly vast," Sheppard muttered.

"We could have pushed harder, but…" Caldwell began replying.

"No, let's not look threatening or too eager. We are trying to make friends here," Sheppard interjected.

The trek began, and as stated by the comm officer it lasted for a little over 17 minutes. During that time, they had broadcasted one message saying who they were and received a simple response with only the word 'acknowledged' in it. He had thought that they could have started to talk to each other while traveling, but that seemed not to be a possibility. Maybe these people were strict on protocol.

Anyway, the ships were ready for anything, with the shields charged and raised and the ability to activate all their weapons at a moment's notice. The aliens had more ships here, but he was confident in their ability to at the very least escape if it turned out that they were not good people. He also wished for this mission to go smoothly. It was his first diplomatic mission, and he didn't want to mess it up.

"We have stopped one hundred kilometers in front of the unknown ships as ordered, sir," the helm reported.

"Good, let's call them and start this meeting," Caldwell said, apparently eager to begin. He too must like doing simulations more than talking to unknown aliens.

"Sir, we are receiving a message from the largest alien ship," the comm officer replied.

"It seems they are faster than we are," Sheppard said.

"What does it say, Lieutenant?" Caldwell asked while looking at the crewmember at the comm station.

"It is addressed to Admiral Sheppard and Captain Caldwell. Start of the quote, _'We the Ikliri look forward to creating a long-lasting relationship with the Terrans and other members of the Second Great Alliance. We will bring our main fleet at the coordinates of your supergate in three of your Earth days._ ' End of quote, sir," the comm officer said. He too looked baffled.

"Sir, all unknown vessels have entered hyperspace! They are gone, sir!" the sensor officer reported.

"What?" Sheppard said in puzzlement.

"What?" Caldwell said it at the same time.

"Why?" Sheppard added, now questioning why they left so abruptly.

"How do they know our names?" Caldwell asked.

"Don't know," Shepard answered. "For that matter, how do they know how long a day on Earth lasts?"

"I don't get it. Crap! We didn't give them the coordinates where the supergate is!" Shepard shouted. Was his first mission a complete bust? Did he even do anything?

"Sir, the message also contained the exact coordinates where our supergate is."

"How do they know that?!" Caldwell was the one to shout this time. There was a trace of exasperation present in his voice.

"Sir, I have been detecting some residual emissions for the last minute," the tactical officer reported. "They are decaying quickly."

"What kind of emissions?" Caldwell asked.

"Tachyons, sir. The ship's computer is still analyzing to see if there is a known pattern to these emissions."

At first, Shepard thought the officer had said tacos because of too many people talking or whispering around him. However, thinking about it a little more, Tachyons made more sense. "Tachyons? What are those?"

"Particles capable of traveling faster than the speed of light when observed from an outsider's frame of reference. The phenomenon is caused by the distortion of the 4th dimension inside the spacetime curvature."

"I deeply regret asking," Sheppard responded while shrugging his shoulders. He was now even more confused, and this whole mission didn't go as he thought it would. "Anyway, what does that mean? It must mean something since you've said it, right?"

"Uhm, yes sir!" the tactical officer replied. There was uncertainty in his voice, and he was constantly glancing at his display. He must be waiting for the computer to finish the analysis and tell him something smart.

"Still waiting here," Shepard added. The officer might soon start sweating bullets if the computer didn't give him something. At least this part was fun. However, it didn't last long.

"I have something," the same officer spoke. "It seems a similar pattern was recorded once before when SG1 found an Alterran device on a planet that created a time loop."

"Okay, that's something," Shepard said, although he didn't know what that something might be. "So, we are dealing with a time loop here, right?"

'Not necessarily, sir. The emissions are similar, but that's not conclusive evidence that the same thing happened here."

"Ugh," Shepard groaned in frustration. He thought they had something, but it could turn out to be nothing. "You know what! Why don't we leave this discussion for some other time? It is only speculation at this point. We won't know for sure no matter how many wacky theories we come up with right now. Let's instead go back – since there's nothing to do here anyway, right? And then in three days from now when they come, we ask these Ikliri guys to explain what the hell is going on. Does that sound good?"

"It does," Caldwell said while still looking pensive. "The problem is that I don't think I'll be able to sleep soundly tonight without knowing what happened.

"Not a problem, Captain!" Shepard cried ardently. "We are going to have so many simulations today that tonight the Ikliri won't be on your mind. Not even close! At best, you'll have nightmares related to fighting the Vargas!"

Caldwell's face crumpled suddenly, the same as everybody else's faces except for Ryan who remained standing unflinching and without betraying any emotion he might have on the subject. Shepard assumed the man had predicted what his suggestion would have been. He wasn't his right-hand man for nothing. "All right! Let's get to business people!"

Shepard stormed back toward the CIC full of vigor. It was time to work some more and show better results than what they had done thus far.

The Ikliri and their wacky ways of doing things will have to wait.

* * *

 _ **Thanks for reading. Leave a review if you feel like it. They are always appreciated.**_


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